Broken
by ExemplaryRadiation
Summary: Toshiro is sent to the real world to follow around Karin Kurosaki due to an inflation in her hidden shinigami powers. The only thing is, she cant know.
1. Sunset Memories

Karin's POV

My head started throbbing about an hour ago. Can't Ichigo and Rukia control their spiritual pressure while they argue? Is it really that hard?

"Well, if you hadn't of jumped in, we wouldn't have this problem!" I heard my brother slam his hand into the wall.

"If I hadn't of jumped in, you'd be DEAD!" Rukia yelled right back at him.

Okay, their screaming might be another cause of the headache.

…olo…

Toshiro's POV

"What?" I refuse to do something as childish as this. It is just silly. If we really want information, we can go ask her in person.

Yamamoto sighed, "You only need to follow her for a month, and write a report on weather or not we should turn Karin Kurosaki into a shinigami like her brother. Her spiritual pressure is just like his, it flows out of her, and if we don't do something about it hollows and possibly arrancars or even Aizen may come after her. Unlike Ichigo, she can also sense spiritual pressure really well, so whenever Ichigo's spiritual pressure fluctuates, it hurts her.

"So you want me to stalk her? Why do I need to go? Surely we can send Matsumoto or Ikaku to the world of the living?" I grasped desperately at my last chance.

"I chose you because you know her the best out of all of the captains and vice captains. I fear that if I send anyone else, and she figures out that they are stalk- er, um following her, they will be in extreme danger. When she angers, her spiritual pressure is heavier than Captain of the 11th squad, Kenpatchi Zaraki. You are also somewhat stoic, so I do not fear of you revealing your true purpose to her until she is ready. I fear if I send Matsumoto, we might have a large problem to clean up. "He said, "You leave tomorrow and will enter the freshman class at Karakuta High School. You are dismissed."

My head pounded as I headed for the door. Karin Kurosaki. I haven't seen her in years. The one person, shinigami or human, who I have never felt angry towards. And from the sound of it, Karin has more power and less control than her brother. Speaking of Ichigo, Yamamoto sent him out on a secret mission, and if he comes back and finds me stalking his sister- I am dead meat.

…olo…

Karin's Pov

"Good morning, Karin!" I felt someone tug at my shoulder. I groaned and turned over while pulling my pillow over my head. "Karin, wake up! Its time to go to school! If you don't wake up now, Daddy will come wake you up!" I shot straight out of bed and turned to my fraternal twin, Yuzu.

"Thanks for the wake up call." I yawned pulling on my uniform. I turned to myself in the mirror. I took a pair of long socks out of the dresser that Yuzu and I shared. I tried to pull them on, sighed, and grabbed a different pair out of the drawer. Yuzu and I are both freshmen in high school now. While Yuzu has short hair, a slender body, and a flat chest, my hair grew out past my, now curvy, chest and I've grown taller than her by an inch and a half.

After jogging down the stairs and avoiding an attack from my loving father, I grabbed a soccer ball out of my dwindling supply from the coat closet. Soccer is one of those things where I can kick the ball as hard as I want, and "release my anger". Yuzu is frightened that one day I'm going to snap and start attacking everyone within a twelve mile radius. I swear, that has not happened! Yet.

After breakfast I ditched everyone and walked to school on my own path. I kicked one of my soccer balls around, thinking about my guy friends, and how they are not in my high school, how the kids at my school hate me, and how I get into fights weekly trying to protect random humans and random souls, and finally, I was thinking about how three years ago I met a boy, who was better at soccer than I am.

*Flashback*

"Anyway, there is something I need to ask you. The other day- uh!" Toshiro grabbed my waist and pulled me over, and when I looked up a huge monster roared at me.

"Run guys!" I panicked.

"And you, too. Go!" He ordered me. Nobody orders me to do anything. Then it registered with me. "Toshiro! You can see that thing?"

"Just go. I'll explain it to you later. Now." Another order.

"I can't; I can't stand by when my friends are in danger!" I yelled at him. I pushed him off me and kicked a spirit-loaded soccer ball at the monster.

I looked up in awe. "He didn't even feel it!" Next thing I knew the giant purple fist was rocketing towards me. I closed my eyes. When I didn't feel contact, I looked up at Toshiro, who wearing the same type of kimono that Ichigo has. He was a soul reaper.

He mumbled some thing and the monster arm came off, frozen solid. The sky was black and it started raining. He was saying something about captains and hollows. He cut it in half and I watched as the two half of the monster fell apart.

"Amazing." I whispered as the sky returned to its normal state.

He held his hand out to me. "Are you alright?"

"Y-yeah. How is everyone?" I took the hand he held out to me.

"Their alright." He said.

"Thank goodness." I replied as he pulled me up off the ground.

*End Flashback*

I smiled, kicked my ball up into my hands, and walked into school.

…olo…

Your reviews would be greatly appreciated!


	2. Get ready, get set, GO

Toshiro's POV

4:30 am

RING, RING, RING.

I sat up and grabbed my hakana from my dresser. With any luck, I can say goodbye to Momo and leave. I purposely kept the time of my departure from Matsumoto, but nothing can keep her from an excuse to have a sake party.

I pushed open the door and used flash step to rush over to Momo's quarters. I felt bad, but I was in a hurry so I rushed through her door without knocking, and whispered into her ear, "Momo, I'm leaving. I have to go to the world of the living now."

I watched as my best friend woke up from her slumber, sat up, rubbed her eyes, and yawned. "Shiro?" She squinted at me through the dark.

"Yea. You told me to come say goodbye to you when I left. I will see you in a month's time." I smiled softly at her. It's not an expression many people get to see, but Momo is like a sister to me.

"Shiro, I want you to promise me that you won't get too attached to anyone from the world of the living. And I want you to come back to me complete and in one piece." Momo stared up at me with her great big dark eyes in an adorable, pleading manner.

She was joking, of course, we always do that- I laughed and replied, "Yea, yea- I know, death penalty and all that. When I looked back at her she smiled, with a little effort, which I cast off as sleepiness. "I have to go now Momo, you should probably get some more sleep, and you have to go fill in at the Captains meeting in a couple of hours."

"Alright…" She yawned and leaned back on her pillow. I smiled one last time and walked out of the room, into the street and over to the gate. I stuck Hyorinmaru into the gate, "Open- oomph!"

"Taicho!" My free-spirited vice captain suffocated me with her chest.

"AGH! Matsumoto! How long have you been waiting there?!" I yelled a tick mark appearing on my head.

"Only three hours! You didn't really think I would let you leave without saying goodbye! " She grinned. I narrowed my eyes.

"You wouldn't hide behind a tree for three hours this early in the morning unless you wanted something!" I said. "So what is it?"

"I wanted you to get me this!" She screeched, shoving some kind of catalog into my face. "Oh! And I also was supposed to tell you that you need to see Urahara Kisuke for a gigai. He will send somewhere to stay for when you stay in the world of the living!"

"If I say yes to get you a, "I paused reading the colorful paper, "Mystic fire topaz pendant, will you let me go?"

"YAY!" She started dancing, and I got through the gate as fast as possible.

…olo…

I blinked, stepping out into the sky. Urahara Kisuke. I grudgingly turned towards the east and ran to the little shop. "Kisuke?"

"Customers!" I heard the happy blond man shout. "Welcome to the famous shop of Urahara Kisuke!"

"Hello mister. Do you want a gigi?" A little girl wearing a pink skirt looked up at me.

"Shut up, you idiot! That's Captain of the tenth squad, Toshiro Hitsugaya! You don't remember him!" He pushed his knuckles into her forehead.

"STOP, Jinta! Not in front of the customers!" Tessai pulled the two children apart.

I sighed. This place was so hectic. Can't they be calmer? Who would want so much noise and confusion?

"One gigai!" An obnoxious voice broke through my musing.

"Thanks." I said while pulling on the gigai. I turned, tossed my money on the counter and asked, "Where do I stay? Matsumoto told me you would tell me where to stay." I stretched my arm out and yawned. I am really tired and I need to sleep for a while.

"Well, you have two choices. You can stay here," He grinned at me, "or you can stay at Kurosaki's house." Seeing the look on my face he added, "Rukia is there currently residing in the closet of Ichigo's room but you can take his room as long as no one knows you are there, save Rukia. We have already alerted her of your presence."

I started a pros/cons of staying at Karin's house list in my head:

Pros

A closer eye on Karin for my mission

Close to the school

No annoying Kisuke

Cons

If Karin catches me, I'm dead

If Ichigo comes back, I'm dead

If anyone finds out I'm here, I fail the mission

I have to find my own food

Sigh. It looks like I'm staying at Karin's house. Mission first, besides, Rukia will know I'm there and (hopefully) cover for me if anything goes wrong. I pushed my hand in my pocket and winced as it brushed a piece of paper. I pulled the paper out of my pocket and sucked on my bleeding finger. A little black cat slinked into the room.

"Hey, Kisuke. I'll stay at Kurosaki's, but I need to know where this store is," I pointed at the paper in my hand, "Matsumoto is making me buy this for her."

He even handed out directions in a cheerful way. "Oh! You are looking for a spirit shop!"

Spirit shop? I shrugged it off. I took my bag of "school uniforms" and "normal cloths" and walked over to the door. "I'll be back if I need something."

"You are always welcome, valued customer!" Kisuke grinned. I sighed. Again.

I walked out of the shop and turned the corner. I saw a flash of black, and saw a little cat. The cat looked straight into my eyes and backtracked a few steps. Then it mewed at me. It actually mewed at me. Is that normal cat behavior? I reached out and petted it between the ears and continued walking according to the directions Kisuke gave me.

I turned the corner and walked straight into another shop, that no one was in. "Hello? Is anyone here?" My eyes scanned the shop. It looked like ancient soul stuff. A woman walked in. She was tall and had straight black hair that reached her hips and bangs that went off to the side. Her eyes were bright green and piercing. She looked about Soi Fon's age, but I could never be sure. She was not a soul reaper, because I knew of all of the registered soul reapers in the area. But she was definitely a soul in a gigai. Maybe she was here on special permission or something?

"What? Do you want something from the store, or are you just going to stare at me?" Her harsh voice ripped me out of my thoughts.

"Yes, I want this.' I pointed to the pendant on the paper. She studied me and grabbed the paper from my hand. As she turned to get it from, the storeroom I guess, I caught a glimpse of a large puckered scar that ran down her back. She returned with it, I paid, and she left the room. I caught one last glance at her face as she left. It had some sort of emotion on it, but I couldn't tell what. I left the store quickly and shunpoed to Karin's house. I hopped in Ichigo's window and found Rukia talking to a stuffed animal. Taking to a stuffed animal? Oh- that's right. Kon.

"Hey Rukia." I said.

"Captain Hitsugaya! I didn't see you there!" Her eyes went wide and she jumped off the chair she was sitting on. "Kisuke gave me a call. We are going to be way late for school, but that's okay, because you're new. We have to go to school in a half an hour. Get dressed! I can sneak some breakfast up here!" She ran out of the room.

I took the school uniform out of my bag and pulled it on. I also took a container of soul candy and put it in my backpack that already had all of my books in it.

I collapsed back on the bed. It's a good thing the 12th squad came up with a smaller reporting device, so I could carry it with me. I only had to report into it and press send and Head Captain Yamamoto would get the message. [It's a cell phone, but a little different]

I must have drifted off to sleep, because when I opened my eyes Rukia was handing me a biscuit. "Let's go!"

"School! Come on we gotta go!"

…olo…

After an extremely awkward walk to the school with Rukia, I was placed in a room with a bunch of students, with a teacher's hand on my shoulder.

"Class, meet Toshiro Hitsugaya!" I stuffed my hands in my pockets and glanced up at the class. I knew Karin wouldn't be in here, that's what Yamamoto planned. I also would just have to get through school. I didn't need to make friends or anything. I saw a group of girls pass something between themselves, and giggle. I said, "Hi", shrugged off the hand, and just sat down in the back of the classroom.

Class droned on and on. Living so long, I already knew this stuff. The only thing that caught my notice is, at the end Sensei said, "Girl's soccer tryouts are on Friday and our dance is coming up next Friday. You need to buy tickets now. Read pages 139 through 154 and do the questions at the end of the chapter for homework. Due tomorrow." The bell rang.

I walked up to the roof and started to eat. There weren't many people up here. Twenty at the most. They are holding soccer tryouts? Karin likes soccer, if I remember correctly. I should go see them because Karin would probably be there to try for the team. I can hopefully get a good idea of how much her spirit energy rises when she is in action.

"Um, excuse me." I glanced up to find the source of the little voice. One of the girls who was passing something in class today was standing I front of me. She had light brown hair and green eyes, but she was blushing, "Hi! I'm Hanako. I was wondering if you had a date to the dance yet." She smiled at me and I just looked at her blankly.

"Um, no?" I replied.

Her face brightened. "Will you go with me? I don't have a date yet."

I looked at her blankly, not comprehending. "I don't think I'm going. I haven't really decided yet. "

Her face fell and she pouted at me. "Well if you decide to go give me a call!" She pressed a piece of paper with a phone number on it into my hand. I dropped it into my bag .The bell rang. She waved at me and left. I sighed, more classes. Three more and I can go back to the house.

Science and geometry want pretty fast. They didn't assign much homework either. Next was art. I had to be careful in this one. Karin was also in art.

When I got there, I saw that there was only three other people there. None of them Karin. I walked over to the teacher and she handed me the project sheet for the painting we were working on.

"You get to work on your own for this project. The canvases are in the corner and all of the paint is on the middle table." I nodded and sat in the back where, hopefully, Karin wouldn't notice me. People started walking in. The warning bell rang. Right after that Karin walked in holding a soccer ball in one hand and her backpack in the other.

I caught my breath and ducked behind my canvas. She sat down without noticing me and set up her half done painting. I took one last look at her, to me she looked older, and her hair was longer than the last time I saw her. The funniest thing of all was that she was wearing a skirt. A uniform skirt, that was required of her to wear, but still a skirt.

I turned away from her and worked on my painting of Hyorinmaru. It's not like anyone would know he was real anyway.

…olo…

Reviews would be lovely!


	3. Protect

Karin's Pov

I walked into the art room and sat down at my art station with the stuff I needed to continue my painting. I studied my picture. A little girl was sitting on a chair and holding a doll like her own baby.

The object of this project was to draw a picture of something that represented you, or someone close to you. I decided on making Yuzu the girl in my picture. She used to hold her little doll and care for it. She would put bandages on it when it was "hurt". It was practice to be a nurse in the family clinic.

The air conditioning kicked in right then and a brief flash of spiritual pressure passed by me. I put some energy into looking for another bit, but I couldn't find any. I glanced towards the vent and decided that it was probably someone from the classroom one over.

I made little strokes in the background from dark in the center to light on the outside. I finished it. I took a few steps back and looked at it for a while. After that, I left it there to dry and went to wash my paintbrushes. As I washed, I heard the bell ring. Soon there is going to be a huge line for the sink to wash out brushes. I headed to get my backpack.

I reached down to grab my backpack and felt a push. "Ow!" I whispered I looked up and saw a girl with blond hair and black roots, wearing too much makeup and five inch heels looking down at me. Marissa Kurotsuchi. She was one of the girls who frequently took the enjoyment of making my life worse than it needs to be.

I waited for her to go whine to the teacher that I tripped her or something, but it never happened. She widened her eyes and pouted, "I am so sorry! I am like such a klutz!" She practically shouted glancing behind her shoulder a someone, most likely male, and put out her hand to help me up.

"It's ok." I said, shocked. I took her hand and stood up.

She glanced again behind her. The person who she put on the show for must have left, because she wiped her perfectly manicured hand on her to short skirt and sneered, "Watch where you're going, bitch." She kneed me in the back on last time for good measure and walked out of the room. I felt anger boil inside of me. If we weren't on school grounds and in front of a teacher, I would have messed up her pretty little face. But my dad doesn't need another kid like my thick skulled brother. I have to keep things quiet for Yuzu and dad's sake.

I already had everything I needed for homework in my bag, so I headed for home. I plugged my iPod into my ears. I scrolled through the playlist and chose a particularly loud song to drown out all of my thoughts. I walked past the area that was currently being built into a new playground and sports practice area. There was no one working today.

The noise coming from my iPod muffled out the scream, but not completely. I put it back in the backpack and ran towards the source of the screaming. "Come on. Come with me. You don't want to see your little sister get hurt, do you?" I heard a rough male voice say.

I turned and the first thing I saw was the knife. Then the large, mean-looking man. Then the little girl who had the knife pressed to her throat. The last thing I saw was the girl crouching against a tree with tears streaming down her face holding a crushed cell phone in her trembling hands. She had the look of indecision and pain on her face. No one noticed me. I dropped my bag and ran to the man, taking the knife from him before he realized I was there.

I sat on top of the swing set and threw the knife past his face and into a tree twenty feet behind him, where it stayed, buried to the hilt. I may not get exactly what I want yet, but I can still train.

He turned to me and grinned, "Another one? This one seems feisty!" He dropped the little girl and her head made a cracking sound on the pavement. I winced. He looked at me on the swing set, probably wondering how I got up there. He picked up a big rock from the newly construed duck pond and threw it at me. I jumped off the swing to avoid being hit. "You couldn't hurt anyone! What do you think you can accomplish, sweetheart?" I saw him run towards me, but I couldn't move. All I could see was the little girl with a big cut on her leg. A little girl whom I failed to protect. He took my shoulders and pushed me into the new swing set pole.

"Run!" I panicked yelling at the oldest sister who looked frozen with shock. Her little sister was tugging on her arm. "Call the police station. You need to go," He pushed my head into the pole again harshly, "NOW!" I yelled. They ran. He hit me across the face hard enough to draw blood. I kicked him in his soft spot, and he loosened his grip enough for me to squirm out of the way.

He looked back at the retreating figures and yelled, "No!" He turned back to me. "You let them go!" He started towards me again.

I did the only thing I could do. I focused some of my spiritual energy into a soccer ball that was sitting near my bag and kicked it at the man. It hit him so hard, that he flew back ten feet and coughed up blood.

He glared at me and took something out of his pocket. I felt my stomach turn as I recognized brass knuckles. I stopped trying to fight and just ran. The odds were completely against me he was at least a foot and a half taller than me and armed. I knew I shouldn't have tossed the knife away. I heard a grunt behind me and I turned to see the man caught up. The first thing I heard was a crunch, and pain exploded all the way up my left arm. "AGHHHH!" I shrieked. My vision fuzzed and he kicked my stomach and I fell like a rag doll onto the ground. He raised his arm again and I braced myself, ready to dive out of the way.

I heard an alarm in the background, coming this way. The man must have heard it too, because he turned and tried to run away. I pulled myself together and pulled my bag (with my right arm) into the nearest ally where, hopefully, the police wouldn't notice me and my family wouldn't be alerted. I pulled my phone out of my bag and dialed Yoroichi.

"Hello?" I heard Yoroichi say through the phone.

"Please help me! I think my left arm is broken…." She cut me off.

"We didn't get a hollow alert! How did you hurt yourself?" She demanded of me.

"There was a man two girls he was threatening them. I had to help." I whispered.

"Of course you did. Just like your brother." She muttered, then louder, "I'm coming. Where are you?"

I gave her instructions and she hung up, promising she would be there soon. The pain in my arm hurt worse, now that I calmed down. Just the slightest movements made me want to scream. Plus, my head was throbbing and I was struggling to not fall asleep to avoid never waking up. I couldn't help it. My vision went fuzzy and I blacked out.

Toshiro's POV 

Apparently if you enter school in the middle of the year, the teachers have to make sure you are "up to date" on all the work done previously this year. I should have brought the mind replacement (what is it called?). After four placement tests, I was allowed to go home. I need to follow Karin from school three days a week, according to Yamamoto, so I planned on doing that today. Now, I have to choose another day. Well, at least I don't have to worry about something bad happening to her. It's not like she can get into that much trouble in two hours, right?

Karin's POV 

I forced opened my eyes and tried to sit up, but when I did pain shot up my left arm. I blinked and glanced around me. I recognized Urahara Kisuke's house. I sighed and laid back down. The sliding door opened and Orihime walked in. she smiled a huge smile and said to me, "Yoroichi called me and said that Kurosaki-kun's sister was hurt, so I got down here right away to fix you back up!"

I inwardly sighed. It's nice that Orihime would fix my arm with her powers, but she is so optimistic all of the time. And completely in love with my brother, who has absolutely no idea. I mean come on! She is the only person who calls him Kurosaki-kun. Most people call him Ichigo. I personally like Rukia better, plus she is so sweet to Yuzu and I.

Orihime said something and a golden yellow half oval surrounded my arm. I immediately felt relief, and then worry started to pour in after that. "Orihime, has anyone called my family about this?" I gestured to my arm.

"Well, not exactly. Yoroichi was arguing with Tessai about whether or not we should call your family. In the end, Yoroichi won and we didn't call anyone. I hope your okay with that! Kurosaki-kun will be so worried about his little sister!" She replied in her cheerful tone and removed her powers.

I felt the worry start to make its way out of my body again, then felt the tiredness sink back in. I blinked hard and started to stand up. "Oh no! You can't stand yet! You could get even more hurt!" Orihime's eyes widened.

"No, I need…" I was cut off, yet again, by a black cat that slinked into the room.

"No, she needs to get home. Would you like for me to accompany you?" It said.

"No thanks, Yoroichi. I do have a question, though. When will you be…?"

"NO!" She shouted at me. "Sorry for yelling, but we can't talk about that right now." She gave me THAT look. The one I know so well.

"Alright. I can head home now." I sighed as I grabbed my bag and headed out the door.

On my way home I kept thinking to myself. The one thing I really want right now. The one thing I can only speak to Yoroichi about and NEVER let anyone else in on the secret, not even Kisuke. I want to be able to protect people better, like the people in the park today. I wasn't to be able to defend the living and the dead from hollows. I want to be a soul reaper.


	4. And so it begins

Toshiro's POV

The minute I felt the dwindling spiritual pressure, I rushed down the hall to see where it came from. I ditched my gigai in Ichigo's closet and asked Rukia to make sure no one sees it. I made sure no one saw me. I glanced out from the wall I was standing behind, and started to watch the scene before me.

Karin walked through the door. Slumped is more like it, she practically crawled into the room.

Isshan threw himself at her, tears streaming down his face, "My little Karin! Are you okay sweet daughter? I was so worried about you, my sweet little - ow!"

Karin straightened up and kicked him in the face. "Shut up old man." She panted and continued, "I'm going to bed, and I was training for soccer tryouts tomorrow. I really want a spot on the offense, and it's hard for a freshman to get in. Sorry for not calling, goodnight!"

She was lying. I could tell from the weak spiritual pressure that was left in her.

She headed for the stairs to go to her room, and it just so happened that was towards me. I slipped into the closet on my right and peered through the little slots on the door. When Karin came into my sight again, she stopped and closed her eyes. She looked like she was concentrating on something. Her eyes flew back open after a moment and she looked straight at me. Well, technically the closet.

I shielded my spiritual pressure, and Karin's face turned a little confused. She glanced one more time at the closet and then stepped into the room halfway down the hallway. I heard a creaking sound and then nothing. I walked quietly down the hall, trying not to make a sound to Ichigo's old bedroom right next door to Karin and Yuzu's room.

The clock next to the bed beeped and I glanced at it. 12:30. Yuzu and Isshan have to go to bed son. Sure enough, I heard Yuzu walk into the bathroom across the hall and turn on the sink. After a really long fifteen minutes, I heard heavy breathing come from her room.

I decided to check and see if there were any traces of spiritual pressure on her. I opened their door a crack and looked in to make sure they were both asleep. They were. Closing the door softly behind me, I walked over to Karin's bed. I closed my eyes and tried to sense any spiritual pressure besides hers left on her body.

I opened my eyes and looked towards her left arm. There was a strong trace of spiritual pressure there. There was also a little spiritual pressure left on her, but not in one certain spot. It was so little someone with a little power could have brushed against her and it would have been left there.

With a little luck I can go back to her school and trace her steps from there. If I go the opposite way, it would be easier to lose her trail.

I used flash step to get to the school quickly. I closed my eyes and sent my awareness down into the school. There were traces of Karin everywhere, the strongest and most recent leading away from the art room. I followed the trail until I reached an almost-done playground and sports practice area. My head started to ache, so I pulled my awareness back in.

There was so much spiritual pressure here! And it all came from Karin. I went over to a new swing set and touched it, feeling the spiritual pressure on it. There was so much released, but she didn't seem as drained as she should have been when she got home. I saw a glint of silver. I walked over to where I saw the silver and saw a knife, buried almost to the hilt, in a tree. After closer inspection, I noticed it too had traces of Karin's spiritual pressure on it. What does she get herself into?

I looked around more and found a soccer ball loaded with her spiritual pressure, a crushed cell phone, and two spots of blood. One was just a couple drops near the swing, and the other was a sizable amount about three yards back from that. I couldn't tell if it was Karin's or not, but I could tell it was recent. There were obviously no hollows involved in this.

The trail continued to an ally and then it ended. Just disappeared. There is no way to do that. Not even Yamamoto can fully disguise his spiritual pressure. It's completely impossible.

I returned to the Kurosaki clinic and checked my reporting device to see Id Yamamoto gave me any instructions. There was one message:

You have Saturdays off to do as you wish.

Head Captain Yamamoto

I closed the little machine. Might as well get some sleep, because I have to go to school tomorrow.

…olo…

Sorry for the short update! Please review!


	5. Bread

"I have soccer tryouts today!" I was practically bouncing down the stairs despite what happened yesterday. "Yuzu! Where are you?" I couldn't hear anything, which is unusual in our house. I looked in the kitchen and didn't see her cooking in her usual spot. I turned, my eyes widening, as I whirled in place, as though my sister would materialize if I looked hard enough. "Yuzu?" I asked, a question in my voice as I searched. "Weird…" I said to myself, grumbling as I searched for a note.

Yuzu knows to always leave a note. If I can't find a note I'll have to tell Dad. Sigh.

I looked for the stupid note for fifteen minutes, and then found it taped to the fridge. I groaned over my stupidity as I began to scan the note, smiling slightly,

Karin, (Dad, if you are reading this, please give it to Karin)

I told you this last week, but thought you might have forgotten. There is a boy who asked me to go to the dance with him, and I am walking to school and the coffee shop with him this morning. You worry so much; I thought I should leave a note!

I made you lunch (In the fridge next to the milk) and I can't wait to see you try out for soccer today. Remember to bring home your science book to study for your test on Thursday. Good Luck!

Love,  
Yuzu

Sure enough, there was a lunch next to the milk. It is so sweet that even on an important day like this, Yuzu would go out of her way to do this for me. Yuzu is much more popular than me at school. I really don't care if I am popular or not, but I don't even think people realize we are sisters. We are so different, and Yuzu would go out of her way to be extroverted and help others, while I preferred to keep to myself and not initiate conversation.

…olo…

At school, I was in a complete daze. All I need to do is get through one day of school and I can try out for soccer! In my daze, I walked straight into someone who yelped in one part pain and two parts surprise and said, "Shit!"

I straightened up and fixed my skirt. I blinked and looked up at the person I knocked into. She was clutching her bag and looked extremely frightened, for a reason I couldn't decipher. She sort of looked familiar- but I couldn't recognize her. Idly, I mused over whether she was in one of my classes. If she was, she must not sit near me, because no name came to mind.

"Sorry." I tried to slide past her, but she put her hand on my arm, restraining me. I recoiled from the sudden and unexpected contact. I tried to pull away, but she tightened her grip until I turned towards her. I could have broken free, but I decided that it would create more problems then it solves. I might as well find out what she wanted, and then leave before I was later to class.

"You helped us yesterday. Didn't you?" She whispered. Yesterday... I looked at her face again and the way she held her bag. I remembered the park and the man. A man and two young girls. Helpless and unprotected girls. My mind flashed back to her face as she clutched her phone.

"Oh, yeah- you were the girl in the park, right?" She smiled and visibly relaxed.

"Thank you! My sister and I really appreciate your help." She hooked her bag on her shoulder, and cocked her head slightly to one side as she stared at me in unconcealed curiosity. "My name is Yuki, and that was my sister, Ino. Will you have lunch with me today?"

I blinked again. Someone was being nice to me? Lunch... Oh right! Lunch. "Sure, I'd love to!" I turned to go to class, but she said, "Wait! What's your name?" She had a hopeful look on her face as she watched me turn towards her. I couldn't resist giving her a genuine smile in return.

"Karin." I smiled and returned to class.

..olo…

The first part of the day passed in a blur that I could barely distinguish. If I tried, I could make out the names and faces of the people I saw and talked to, the words and lectures the professors told me, but I didn't try. I was still exhausted from my unrestrained use of spiritual pressure, and I knew I needed more training.

I groaned, stretching as I dumped everything in my locker and hesitated, wondering if I should wait here, or search for Yuki.

I visually flinched when the girl appeared by my arm and pulled me through the crowd. She smiled, and grabbed my arm, leaving me off balance and struggling to maintain some type of dignity. I was forced to trot to keep up as the girl bounced out of the school.

"Where are we going?" I asked, panting at her enthusiasm. "I thought we weren't allowed to go off campus for lunch, and I don't have any money with me."

The girl turned and gave me a smirk. She dropped my arm long enough to point to herself and say, "Student council. Special privileges! And it's my treat for what you did for us yesterday. My little sister said she would meet us there."

"Where exactly is there?" I asked, and she resumed dragging me through the streets.

"It's a nice little deli a block or two from the school. They have some great sandwiches, and it's one of my favorite places to eat," she explained in one breath, and I grinned at her cheerfulness as she jogged down the street.

"So, did you two make it home okay?" I asked, looking at her.

"Yup! We were fine once the police picked us up. They couldn't find you though- you weren't injured because of us, were you?" she asked frankly, and I surprised another grin.

"Just a scratch," I told her, rolling my eyes like any normal teenager. "It's nothing important."

She looked relieved as she glanced at me, abashed for having to be rescued. "I just kinda, _froze up,_" she confessed. "I kept saying, 'help Ino,' and 'run away' but my body wouldn't do anything."

I glanced up at her, my dark eyes meeting her own. "You're fine now, so it doesn't matter. Next time, you'll know what to do."

"I hope so," she said.

I gave her a sudden, radiant smile.

"Now, about that lunch…"

I smiled, savagely glaring at my sandwich. The delicious smell of turkey wafted up towards me as I glared at the moist bread. I smiled, and picked up the sandwich, savoring the flavors as I devoured it. I sipped at the lemonade, making a face at the overdone sweetness, but I wasn't voicing any complaints.

That bread.

"The bread," I began, staring at it.

Yuki glanced at me, "Is something wrong with it?" she asked fretfully.

"No!" I said hastily. "That is the best, goddamn bread, I have _ever_ eaten!"

She stared at me for a moment, as I continued stuffing the sandwich in my mouth. The tomatoes were scrumptious

And the bread… Did I mention the bread?

All in all…

"This sandwich is the best sandwich in the world! Even better then my sister's!" I glanced around, hoping that my sister would not appear and burst into tears. "It is heaven. The bread is the best part!"

Yuki glanced at me again, and I heard the crunch of lettuce as she ate her own sandwich. "I've been going here for years, and I think the bread is just the same as any other bread."

I shot her a glare, and shook my head. "What is this stuff made of? I need this recipe!"

"I think they buy it in one of those huge bags," she said, explaining quickly, and I glanced at the sandwich again.

Oh.

"Still!" I said, and Yuki glanced at me, for the third time.

There was a long pause, and I twitched.

"Talk about an awkward silence," I muttered, and the side of her face twitched up in a grin.

"Bread," she muttered in disbelief.

And the two of us cracked up.

This chapter was beta-ed by the ever hardcoreawesometastic AvengedRomantic, so go worship her.

Oh! And the bread rant was written by AvengedRomantic. So yeah… assume its French bread, because no bread can be that good without being sourdough or French bread.

Also, AvengedRomantic will beta your stuff for you, so send her a note.

Review, please?


	6. Soccer Tryouts

Toshiro's POV

I shuffled through my locker for my books at the end of the day. It was a l-o-n-g day. I leaned way into my locker to find my calculator, when I heard a familiar voice say, "So I'll see you at my tryouts?"

I glanced down the hall and sure enough, there was Karin. But she was talking to someone, a tall girl with short black hair and purple eyes. Wait… tryouts? I am supposed to go to the soccer tryouts to get samples of Karin's spiritual pressure and stamina levels for Yamamoto. Well, it's not like I had anything to do any way. A piece of paper fluttered out of my locker. I sighed when I saw the content of it. Another girl's phone number. This dance… what is so important about it to these girls?

I put everything into my bag and closed my locker. I turned around and she was gone.

As I made my way over to the outdoor soccer field, I thought about how much easier this would be if she knew I was here. It was surprisingly full. There were many kids from the school here, but mostly adults, probably parents of the athletes. Most of the attendees were sitting up front, so it wasn't hard to find a lone area in the middle of the bleachers.

I sat down and got out a spiritual pressure weight and the scale from my bag so I could get information to send to Yamamoto. The game started not long after, and people left me alone. I watched curiously as the game began, remembering playing this same game with her a few years before.

She got better. Much better. She was the best one trying out. Last time I saw her, I would have crushed her if we had been on opposite teams. Now, she seemed to have been out through training. But not of the soccer kind. The way she moved was like a shinigami.

I had my samples, my data, and they were on the way to Yamamoto. Now I have to wait for Karin to head home, so I can make sure nothing happens like yesterday.

…olo…

Karin's Pov

Warm-up? Done.

Laps? Done.

Stretching? I reached down and touched my toes. I get to go see Yoruichi for training Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Today was Friday, which means I have to work on controlling my emotions and my spiritual pressure. The text she sent after lunch was hanging on my mind.

_You have a visitor. If you can figure out who from the soul society is following you, without them noticing it, I will change you. I will give you until Wednesday. _

Classic Yoruichi for ya. Tells you a lot without telling you anything at all. There were four things taking my attention me at that moment and they were:

Someone was following me

If I follow Yoruichi's instructions, it's a one-way ticket to becoming a soul reaper.

I had a real, live friend! Who wasn't dead, family, or an animal!

Note to self: Don't almost get killed the day before you try out for the soccer team. It leaves you really sore.

Oh, yeah. Life's great.

For the next hour I focused on kicking, catching, dribbling, and passing the soccer ball. The coach has us scrimmage, and he just observed. And wrote things down on that clipboard of his. Damn clipboard. He never puts it down.

Sweat was pouring off of me by the coach told us to shower and go home. On the plus side, I was one of the only people on the co-ed team still standing.

…olo…

"Yoruichi?" I yelled as I walked down the steps to the enormous training area below the shop. On meditation and control days, we usually sat in the hot spring while we meditated. I even brought a bathing suit, because last time, I forgot. Even then, Yoruichi made me still get in, so stop laughing about it. I like clothes on my back, where they belong.

I heard a swoosh behind me and felt my face break into a grin. I had just ducked when an orange-clad arm and fist swooped over where my head was just moments ago. "Hey! I got a new bathing suit!" I smiled at Yoruichi.

She looked at the black one piece in my hand and sighed. "I will never understand your attachment to clothing. Get in the spring and start with the basic mind preparation. I know you want to talk about the text, aren't cell phones cool? I mean, they send messages to people so quickly! Anyway, I need to get rid of a customer."

…olo…

Yoruichi's POV

"Now is not a good time." My voice could probably cut through steel and I briefly contemplated on how useful that could be.

"But Karin came in here. I saw her." Hitsugaya looked shocked by my words as he glanced around the shop.

I sighed and new it was time to stretch the truth. "She is here to have tea and discuss where her brother might be." I heard him start to say something, but I just said, "Go to the house." And walked back to Karin.

…olo…

Karin's POV

"Focus your spiritual energy into the ball without popping it." Yoruichi was trying, once again, to get me not to pop the rubber ball. Usually, when I go up against hollows they tend to me smaller and not at all like the one I had seen when I was playing soccer a few years ago. Usually I just kick a spirit-filled soccer ball at them, and they go down, but after that my ball is gone and I have to go buy a new one. When I had mentioned the constant drain on my money, Yoruichi began training me to control my spiritual pressure. Yoruichi says that it would kill the hollow, but not pop, if I could focus the spiritual pressure on the outside of the ball only.

But first I have to focus on not popping the damn ball.

"Yoruichi?" I asked, careful not to explode- wait never mind. I got a new ball. "Will you really make me into a shinigami if I find out who is following me?"

"Yes. But be warned, he will be very hard to catch." Yoruichi warned, and I gave her a quick smile.

"He?"

"I didn't tell you that if anyone asks." Yoruichi turned away from me and said, "Keep working on it."

Needless to say, the rest of the hour was spent on frustrating training that made me wonder who the idiot that thought suffering builds character was.


	7. Grimmjow and Ichinii

Saturday training is the worst training of the entire week. I have to arrive at the Urahara shop early in the morning and Yoruichi takes sadistic pleasuring in "letting" me fight with the modified souls. I'm sure that I'm not the only one who finds that less then _lovely_. In my current situation, I am hiding behind a rock, soaking wet from when the brat sent me flying twenty feet into the spring.

"Awww! Where'd you go!?" The most annoying giggle I have ever heard in my life echoed in the vast and relatively stark training area. That damned little blond girl was almost as sadistic as Yoruichi. At least the other two were easy to take down, but this little _brat_ was harder to defeat than any hollow I have ever faced. So far, in the time we've been training, she has won fifty-six times to my own fifty-two wins.

I saw a flash, and knew it was her. I slashed out quickly with my practice katana, but my stroke was wild enough that it missed with little effort on Ririn's part. The air around me started to shimmer and I groaned. So today was going to be one of _those_ days. I focused on the spot the illusions normally appear, but the only thing I saw was the pink clock with a golden heart handle swinging in the air in front of me. I groaned. Shoot, only five minutes left until she wins by default. This, by the way, if you care at all, is completely unfair if you ask me. If I remember correctly, Ichi-nii never had to fight the mod-souls. Instead, he just got turned into a hollow and beaten up by his sword's soul. I'd prefer that to _this._

A flash of movement came from the corner of my eye, drawing me out of my thoughts with a jolt. I had just enough time to block the attack from behind. Ririn skittered back a few feet at the force behind my blow, and I managed to make a small snick on her right arm, drawing a bead of blood. Her eyebrows furrowed and she lifted her own weapon. I prepared myself for the inevitable attack that was to come.

"Stop." We both dropped our weapons and sat down against the rocks behind us. We turned to Yoruichi's voice and asked in unison, "Why?"

"I need to talk to Karin about something important. Ririn, go get Kisuke to bind your arm," Yoruichi flash stepped out of the shop and I quickly followed her, grateful that she wasn't pushing my pace yet.

We ended up in front of the shop where Uryu had just finished cleaning up. "You need to start searching tomorrow for the person who is following you." I nodded, still wondering who was tracking me.

"Go. Take one last day, do something fun. Find a friend, maybe?" Yoruichi walked back into the shop leaving me, still soaking wet, standing outside.

…olo…

I turned on the water to take a shower in the little bathroom Yuzu and I shared. Luckily my phone had been spared from my sudden decision to moonlight as a duck. I set it on the counter before I stripped off the wet, cold clothes clinging to me and got in the shower, letting the warm water run over my skin as I relaxed.

BEEP

BEEP

BEEP

Okay, maybe not relaxing. I groaned, for the umpteenth time today, as I wondered where the annoying noise was coming from. Oh, wait, duh, my phone. I washed off quickly and got out of the shower to check whatever the message was.

_Hey Karin, do you want to go the movies with my friend Daichi and I? We don't know what we are going to see, but if you want to see something we can see that. _

- _Yuki _

The only other thing I could do is search for that guy. Movies it is then.

Personally, I was hoping for horror.

…olo…

"Yuki? Where are you?" I spoke into my cell phone as I leaned against the wall in the theater, my dark eyes looking for a familiar face.

"Just look for the really tall guy and you'll see me," was her pert answer.

" Kay." I scanned my eyes over the room, and immediately noticed the tall guy Yuki must have been talking about. Sure enough, I could see that Yuki was standing right there beside him.

"Yuki!" I felt my lips involuntarily move up in a smile as I made my way through the crowded theater. When I got there, I was greeted by a hug from Yuki and an introduction to the guy with her.

"Karin, this is Daichi he tried out for the soccer team like you." Yuki pushed me towards him.

"Hey." He spoke to me. I looked him over quickly. He had light brown hair and dark green eyes. He was looking over me as well. I might have even blushed. Might.

We purchased tickets to an action film after arguing with Yuki who wanted a love film. Ew.

…olo…

The movie was relatively empty because it had been out for so long. There were only eleven other people other than the three of us in the room, but one guy walked in late. He had light blue hair and a bone on the outside of his face. He also had a hole in his stomach.

Did I mention he was walking straight towards me?

"Where's your brother?" The strange blue haired man asked me, and I looked him over disdainfully before gracing him with a reply.

I turned to the seat he had his foot on. "I don't know! Why don't you go find him, and when you do drag his sorry ass back to me so I can kick it into next year. He forgot to say goodbye, again." I could hear the scorn in my own voice, but I didn't have time to embellish my reply before Yuki tugged at my shoulder.

"Who are you talking to?" she whispered.

"What's your name?" I asked the guy.

"Grimmjow Jeagerjaques." He smirked at me, and I noticed the dangerous looked of a predator in his eyes. I sighed as I briefly wondered if my brother was hanging out with a violent crowd again.

"His name is Grimmjow Jeagerjaques." I told Yuki. Her eyes looked troubled and she replied, "There is no one there."

So now my friend thought I was crazy. The perfect afternoon in an already crappy day.

I looked back to Grimmjow. His smirk widened. "She can't see me," he explained with a snicker at what must have been an astonished and horrified look on my face.

"Shit." I whispered. "Come on. Let's go outside," I ordered, and turned back to Yuki. "I was just on the phone, I need to step out and speak to this person real fast."

"Alright." Yuki said and focused back on the movie.

…olo…

"Alright, what do you want?" I asked a still smirking Grimmjow.

"Your brother."

If I was someone like the Vizard, Lisa, I could totally make a remark that would get Ichi-nii to murder me.

"Yeah, you told me that and I told I have no idea where he is. Who are you anyway? Why are you here? Are you an arrancar? Yoruichi told me about them. Do you want to kill me?" Well, maybe my curiosity gets the best of me sometimes. Even Grimmjow looked briefly off balance at my interrogation-style firing of questions.

"I told you, I'm Grimmjow. I'm here to for your goddamned brother…"

I interrupted, "I meant why are you here, asking me?"

He sighed and looked up at the sky, "Why can't I kill the little bitch?" He groaned, and I bristled at the statement, opening my mouth to reply. I cut myself off as someone appeared.

Ulquiorra stepped out of a tree. I knew who he was because when Orihime came to say good bye to Ichigo, I was still awake and I saw him remove something from her wrist that must have made her invisible. I asked Yoruichi about it after they got her back. She showed me a picture Orihime drew of him and explained to me about the arrancar, espada, and everything in between.

"Because Aizen-sama said not to. She doesn't know the whereabouts of her brother and she does not yet wield fire. We have no need for her." He was such an unemotional creature.

I watched as they disappeared into the night and realized my shoulders were shaking.

Never in my life, aside from those who would never hurt me, such as Ichigo and Yoruichi, did I ever feel such power as I did from the two of them. I just got a taste of what I would be up against if I became a shimigami. My shoulders were not shaking from fear, but excitement. I wanted to hurt my enemies and watch them suffer.

I drew back my thoughts as I realized what I had just been thinking and returned to Yuki and Daichi, dispelling any thoughts of tearing someone limb from limb.

…olo…

Beta-ed by the ever-awesome AvengedRomantic.

Review, my lovlies!


	8. I MADE IT!

Sunday was completely uneventful. I trained with Yoruichi then searched for this freaking stalker. When I catch whoever has been following, the first question they are going to answer is if they saw me naked. I'm completely serious. I learned absolutely nothing and my deadline is Wednesday.

Today, being Monday, has also kind of sucked so far. Do you know how hard it is to look for a person only you can see while pretending to be interested in the guy Yuki wants to be asked to the dance by? She has a list. She kept talking non stop for an hour and a half. There is this guy in her English class with black hair and purple eyes or a guy in her art class with white hair.

I was zoned out. I barely caught a word of it. Stupid dance. Why do all of those girls care so much about it anyways? I kind of fuzzed into reality for a moment when Yuki spoke to me.

"So who are you going with?" She said.

"What? Oh, uh nobody. I don't really plan on going. I don't have a dress or anything." I went back to searching for spiritual pressure.

"WHAT?" Yuki practically screamed. That snapped me out of it. And got half the people also eating lunch on the roof to turn and stare at us. "You are going to the dance. I know this girl, Yuzu. She is really sweet and I'm sure would help you pick out a dress. I have no fashion sense, and would be absolutely no help."

I perked up at the name Yuzu. "Yuzu Kurosaki? In our freshman class?" I asked Yuki.

"Yep! I have her phone number here, give me a second…" She fumbled through her bag for her phone.

I giggled. "She's my twin sister. Trust me, I don't need her phone number. She calls me three times a day."

"Really? She will DEFINITELY help me force you to the dance!" Great now I have to listen to Yuki's idea of "the perfect dress" for me. I poked my awareness for spiritual pressure out into the open again. Nothing. Wait, I think I might have got something. I tasted the spiritual pressure. So familiar… Where was it from? I tasted it again. The closet in the hallway.

"Oh! Maybe pink…"

"HE WAS IN MY FREAKING HOUSE!" I shrieked. I was freaking out I didn't care how many people were staring. The stalker was in my closet, well not my closet, but the closet. Completely freaking out.

"Karin, are you okay? You look sick. Maybe you should go to the clinic next period." Yuzu sounded worried.

"Yea, I will. Sorry." I picked up my things and smiled at Yuzu. Walking to the clinic I kept thinking. Who would the soul society send to stalk me? I only know the names of some of the captains and lieutenants. Well, and Renji. Bastard walked in on me changing. And on a completely different subject, why the hell did they send someone to stalk me?

Ok, let the news sink in that someone you don't know was hiding in your closet while looking completely natural and happy the rest of the day. You try it and tell me how you feel.

…olo…

Toshiro's POV 

"Hyorinmaru!" Hollows were coming from everywhere. I had to release an obscene amount of spiritual pressure to get rid of them. They kept coming. Someone had to be controlling them. They might be controlled by that shinigami who left the soul society last year.

He didn't have a reason for leaving, I think he just wanted to. I didn't want to get rid of the poor guy if I saw him, but I must follow orders. Plus, these hollows that were attacking me probably were being controlled by his zampacto.

I kept going. I was so close to the school I didn't dare go to the limits of the (what is the spiritual pressure seal thing called). Suddenly I felt a flare of Karin's spiritual pressure. It made me wonder what had gotten her so upset.

…olo…

Karin's POV

I was fuming. In my house. In my freaking house! Yuzu sleeps there! I SLEEP THERE! At times like this I need Ichigo to show up and kick some shinigami ass.

I reluctantly got out of the clinic and made my way down to the last period of the day, homeroom. It was only twenty minutes long, but they were going to release the results of the soccer auditions. If I got in, practice started next Monday. Hopefully I will be a shinigami by then. But Yoruichi did say that the process is almost exactly like Ichigo's hollofication process.

I finally got to the room and who was waiting for me? My two friends. Yuki still had the "I am going to hold you down and force makeup on your face" look, while Daichi was biting his lip so hard, in a nervous way, it was nearly bleeding.

I went over to them sort of jumping on the balls of my feet.

"Hey, Daichi. Yuki!" Now I was really getting nervous. Daichi's lip was actually bleeding now. Yuki's face lit up and Daichi continued biting his bleeding lip.

A teacher, one I didn't know came in with the paper. She posted it on the cork board by the door and I got over there so fast I surprised myself. I scanned the paper eagerly, not noticing that people were crowding around me to take a look.

There it was. My name! And to make things better, Daichi's was there to!

"We got on! We got on! We got on!" I was so happy. I jumped up and gave a hug to the person beside me. Luckily, that person was Daichi. He just stared at the paper in awe.

I am having such a good day!

…olo…

Toshiro's POV

I just had an awful day. So many hollows. I was exhausted and the only good part of my day was the news that Karin made it on the soccer team.


	9. Toshiro

K POV

I only have one day to find out who he is, and all I know is that he was in my house. I did a full sweep of the house yesterday, even going as far to brave my brother's room. Aside from Rukia in the closet, you really don't want to know what was in there. Really don't. I'm scarred for life now, despite his claims of having a "spotless" room.

Yeah, sure.

I did, however, manage to find a shirt. It was way too small for my brother, so that left two possible answers- either Ichi-nii's had it for years or it's someone else's. This does tell me one thing. Whoever he is, he goes to my school, and he's probably new.

During lunch I decided to "borrow" the new student list. But I couldn't freaking find the damn list.

"Where is it? Where is it?" I snarled. I was _so_ close, but evidently not close enough.

…olo…

T POV

I was walking to the roof to eat lunch when I saw something that almost made me laugh. It was Karin. And she was on her hands and knees looking for something in the bottom file of the front office. I knew what she was looking for. I brushed my fingers against the list in my bag. She knew I was here.

And she was wearing a skirt, while she was on her hands and knees. Shit, Matsumoto was right, I reflected sourly, my mind drawn to the memory stuck in my mind.

"_You really have reached that age, haven't you taicho!" She started giggling like a fool, as she always did, and I just scoffed at her. I had no idea what she meant._

I hate it when other people are right.

…olo…

K POV

I was so close to finding out who was following me, when a hollow showed up. It was just small fry, but still a hollow. I grabbed a soccer ball out of my bag and yelled to my art teacher, "Sorry, I feel sick. I think I am going to go home now."

It was the last period of the day anyway, so it's not like I missed much.

And I was done with my painting.

"Damn it." I growled while I focused my spiritual pressure into the ball. It was just down the street, chasing after a cute little baby girl soul who was running my way

"Come here!" I shouted and scooped up the toddler while kicking the ball at the hollow's head. It immediately disappeared, because the ball had managed to place a crack in its mask. I set the girl on the ground quickly.

"Are you alright?" I tried to be gentle, but I felt annoyance sharpening my words.

"WAHHHHHH! Boo-boo! Ayame gotta boo-boo!" This precious baby was crying her eyes out. I looked at the elbow she was clutching with her opposite hand . It had a scrape.

I felt frustration well up in me, spurring on furious thoughts that had been simmering under the surface for weeks now.

Why can't I protect anyone? Even from hollows such as these? I just want to be a shinigami to help! Why can't she just turn me? I know I haven't mastered the soccer ball popping thing yet, but I can control myself! I know I can!

After a few minutes the girl calmed down. She brushed the dirt off of her little pink dress and looked up at me with great big brown eyes. "Wiw you fix my hair?" I looked at her curly light brown pigtails, and fixed the one falling out.

I was going to get back to school to grab my bag, but the little soul reached up her hand and tugged at my shirt. "Ayame wanna come!" She chirped.

I have to say no. Don't look at the eyes Karin, don't look at the eyes. She tugged again. "Pweeese!"

Needless to say, I caved. Don't laugh at me- you wouldn't have been able to resist either.

"Come on. Let's go." Her whole face lit up at my admission of surrender.

"YAAAAY!" She climbed up on my back and held on to my neck. I remember doing this to Ichigo.

What can I say? I was a sucker for puppy-dog eyes.

…olo…

Daichi's POV

"I was actually wondering if you might, maybe liketogotothedancewithme."

"What? Could you please talk slower? I have no idea what you are saying." Karin replied leaning towards me.

"Oh, uh never mind. It's not important. I have something I've gotta do anyway." I mumbled, leaving Karin where she stood, confused. I walked off to the area next to the school that had a few trees to sit under and eat. Leaning on the tree, I let my thoughts wander. _Be a man. Come on. It's just a dance and, knowing Karin, she would think I was just desperate to ask her to come with me._

My thoughts continued until I felt my cheek sting and touched it. When I pulled my hand off my face it was sticky and red. Blood? What hit my cheek to make it bleed? The tree shuddered behind me and I backed away from it. A thick heavy branch snapped of and hit the ground with a thud.

"Die, silly human. Feed my pets, feed." Whispering? Am I going insane? I saw a flicker that looked like a human standing in the air, hold a katana up ready to strike

My eyes widened.

…olo…

K POV

I had my bag and was almost out of the school with Ayame when Daichi stopped me. She squirmed around on my back the whole time and was being loud. I couldn't hear half of what Daichi was saying.

Speaking of Daichi…

What the hell? That was so weird. What was Daichi trying to say? I mean, he looked like he was in pain or something. Time to head home, everyone not in sports was gone long ago.

I walked out of the main building and to the side of the school. I put Ayame down and said she had to walk for a while. She looked sad. I looked away. What I saw made me stop and gape. A man, obviously a shinigami, from the clothing and that fact that he was standing in midair held a katana above his head ready to strike Daichi in two.

"NO!" I could feel my legs moving, my heart beating, and the eagerness to protect another with my life. "DON'T!" Daichi turned to me and from the look on his face he had no idea what was going on.

Time slowed down like in one of those cheesy movies. I felt my body move in front of Daichi's, and I felt the man's zanpakuto rip through my chest and protrude out my back.

It should have hurt.

I should have died.

I shouldn't have power.

But I did. It surged through me, ripping through my body and leaving me feeling _free._

I watched my unscathed body fall to the ground as I grasped the hilt of my zanpakuto. The man who had tried to kill my friend was weaponless and barely standing.

"No… What happened? I stabbed you... why aren't you dead… your body…. Shinigami…" He couched up blood and fell to his knees. "My power… you took… power…"

A shinigami. I was a shinigami, the one thing I really wanted. But how? I do remember something Yoruichi said about Ichigo. She said Rukia lent him her powers by stabbing him in the stomach, but he took power she didn't mean to give. I wonder if…

"Karin?" I glanced over my shoulder at Daichi, whose eyes were as wide as saucers. "Who is he? Why are there two of you? What is going on?" He could see us. Why? My eyes narrowed as they focused on the cut on his cheek. I turned back to the shinigami.

"I will protect everyone precious to me." To do that, I had to keep him here until I got help from Yoruichi. I brought my zanpakuto down in an arc to cut off his leg. I felt my zanpakuto connect with something metal and looked up to see the one person who has been on my mind for the past three years.

"Toshiro." I whispered.

…olo…

Beta: Lady Foxtrot (formerly known as AvengedRomantic)

PLEASE review! It inspires me to write.


	10. We are Broken

"Toshiro." I felt the name tumble off the tip of my tongue.

Okay, yes. I do want to see him again. And I might have had one tiny dream about him, but this was insane! Now I'm hallucinating.

I felt my zampacto pulled away from me and I dropped to my knees, head pounding. I pressed the palms of my hands to my temples, as if the one motion would stop all of the jokes my mind had decided to play on me. I could see him, but why would he be here? I must be seeing things. My eyes moved to see my zampacto in his arms. He stopped the blade, so he must really be there, right?

I could hear myself breathing his name over and over again, in a questioning and disbelieving tone.

If I could touch him, he was real, right? My hands reached out to grab him, his cloths, anything that would prove he was real. When my hand felt his cheek, soft beneath my fingers, I looked into his eyes. He gasped and stumbled, gaping at my hand.

I smiled.

"ASSHOLE!" I shouted at him. I laughed as his eyes widened even more and he took a step backwards. My head still hurt, and I felt completely mental, but I was laughing. "You shouldn't just stop my zampacto like that. It could have hurt my shoulder."

…olo…

""Kawwwwinnn!" I felt a heavy toddler glomp me and the weight of her little body caught me off guard and I fell over onto the ground. Next to Daichi. A very, very, awestruck Daichi.

"HItsugaya-kun? Karin-chan? What the hell is going on here?" I could tell he was trying to be brave and tough, but his voice quivered.

But that wasn't the issue right now.

"You can see us?" Was my loud, worried tone.

"You can see us?" Came out of another mouth exactly at the same time as my reply. This voice was calm, collected, and slightly irritated.

"Of course I can see you. Why the hell are you wearing a robe? AND WHY DO YOU HAVE WEAPONS? " Blood trickled down his check slowly, and he was wincing from the sting.

I took a look at my surroundings. There were two men laying on the ground. One, was laying, nearly dead, coughing up blood and lacking the strength to move. The other, was looking between myself and _him _with wide eyes and a bloody cheek. I had a little girl, crying, and worrying about while pulling on my hair. Then I saw _him _looking at me with his eyes, beautiful eyes, questioning me.

I didn't want to deal with it. Any of it.

So I did something Kurosaki's never do. I _ran_.

I got the hell out of there. I ran, and ran, until I was out of breath. I found myself in front of my mother's grave, crying. Why was I crying? I have no idea. I just did. I let everything come out.

My brother leaving me without saying goodbye.

My mother's death.

My friends who get hurt because of me.

Everything came out in that moment. That's what happens when you purposefully bottle up your emotions. The bottle is only so big, but your emotions keep coming. When the bottle is filled, you can't just go find another bottle. The bottle will explode and everything in it will come gushing out.

I cried and cried and cried until I felt empty. There were dry, salty tears on my cheeks and I was laying, limp and weak, next to my mother's grave. My eyes got heavy and so I allowed myself to fall asleep, curled up on my mother's grave.

As my eyes closed I whispered, "I'm sorry. Forgive me, mother."

*Dream*

"Hello, child."

My eyes opened and as I looked around me, I felt myself scream.

I was bound, with heavy chains, to thin air. It was boiling, so hot, in the harsh thundering rain. I usually love rain, but this rain was hot, so hot it burnt me. I was burning. I struggled and pulled at the chains, my wrists and arms becoming red and raw.

"Child. Look at me." A feminine voice whispered through the intense chaos of the storm. I forced myself to look for the voice and when my eyes fell upon the owner, I was surprised. She was also bound to thin air, in the boiling rain, but everything around her turned to fire. I watched as she flexed her pale arms and the chains melted off of her form.

And then she was behind me. So fast, and sudden I briefly thought of Yoruichi.

"Child," She whispered in my ear. "Child, why must you be so angry? Every time you get like this, I have to put up with this rain."

She stepped around me and I could finally see what she looked like. She had pale skin, and purple hair that reached her knees. She had bangs that skimmed her yellow eyes. Her eyes were so piercing. I felt like she could see through my soul. It was extremely creepy and really beautiful at the same time.

"Look, below us. This is what you have set up for me. I love this. But not when it rains, child. Not when it rains." I felt a pulse of spiritual pressure fluctuate through the place I was chained.

This world that I was in was flashing. It flashed as fast as my emotions as I struggled to compose my feelings. The world flashed between a cold, snowy forest and the burning, boiling graveyard where my mother was buried.

Another pulse of spiritual pressure coursed through the chains and me. My head was pounding and aching. The spiritual pressure felt so familiar but it was so heavy, I couldn't concentrate on the familiarity of it.

It pressed harder into me and I wanted to scream and hold my head between my arms, but of course, my arms were bound.

_It was too much. I couldn't help it. I'm sorry. _

And then I let it out. All of it. My spiritual pressure had been pushing my limits for days and now I let it out. I really hoped that whoever was around me had some way to protect myself.

"AAAAAAGGGAHHH!" My spiritual pressure shot out of me like a canon with that scream. It went on for a while, then the little world around me broke, like a mirror, and I was left in the dark, trembling, waiting to be woken up.

…olo…

T POV

It took me forever, but I found her. She just ran off, looking petrified. And she left me with a dead man, a shocked boy, and a little girl crying for her onee-chan.

The thing that bothered me was that when I finally found her, it was at a graveyard. And she was lying on a grave, I couldn't see the name, but I don't think it really mattered, anyways. She looked so peaceful

I looked at her body lying there. She looked so peaceful. And then her face started to contort into agony. He arms and legs were twitching, just slightly, like a tremble. I ran over to her, and could feel myself worry a bit about the human in front of me.

"Karin, wake up. You are going to catch a cold." I pushed her shoulder slightly trying to wake her up. "WAKE UP!" I yelled, like I do to Matsumoto. She just convulsed and I saw her eyes squeeze shut.

I needed to wake her up. So I used my spiritual pressure to push her awake. She winced, but didn't wake. So I did it again.

Her face went completely calm, like the calm before the tempest. I put my hand on my zampacto and backed away. And then her eyes opened, wide to the point of pain and she screamed, her spiritual pressure shooting out of her, straight up, in an exact circle around her. It lifted her 20 feet up into the air, and I noticed her spiritual pressure was silver. I tried to get closer to her agonized, screaming form, but the pressure was so much it had me, Toshiro Hitsugaya, on the ground and unable to move. Yamamoto was correct. She has a lot of spiritual pressure.

After what seemed an eternity, Karin's spiritual pressure ebbed to a leak, and then a stop. She fell, like a rag doll on the ground, and I heard a sickening snap. She was awake, yes, but her eyes were wide and unseeing.

I decided to take her to Yoruichi. Oh how I do hate that place.

…olo…

K POV

When I woke up, I found myself, yet again, in Kisuke's shop. With Orihime's traces of power on my left leg and right shoulder. I was sore all over and tried to avoid my thoughts of the dream. I decided instead to foucus on the arguing outside of the door.

"What the hell did you do to her?" Yoruichi's voice has so much anger and worry in it, it broke my heart.

"I didn't do anything to her."_ His_ calm voice came through the door.

"Then why did she have a dislocated shoulder, a broken leg, and a nearly traumatized mind when you brought her here in YOUR arms?" She was doing so well holding herself back from hurting him, I was so proud. Ugh and so sore.

"She was stabbed by the dead man lying in the hallway. He is a shinigami, and then he was not a shinigami. She somehow absorbed his powers." The voice sounded angry, for a stoic voice.

"And the little soul- who is she, why is she here, why haven't you sent her to the soul society yet, and how can she eat so much? If she is DEAD she shouldn't be hungry unless she is using reiatsu." Yoruichi was sort of talking to herself now. She does that a lot.

"I tried sending her to the soul society. It didn't work." I tried not to think about what he could mean.

"What could that mean?" And of course, Yoruichi had to ask that question. I decided it was time to make my existence known.

"YORUICHI!" I shouted as I struggled to sit up.

She ran in the room, looking worried and relieved at the same time. "I just woke up." Came out of my mouth.

I looked past her and saw Toshiro. I looked away, because I couldn't bring myself to look into his eyes. I don't even know why. I am so weird sometimes.

"Do you feel okay? You were kind of shocked for three hours. Orihinme came over, but I'm sure you noticed. I have instant ramen- pork, chicken. Or Tessai could make something when he gets bac-"

"O-nee-chan!" Ayame bounced into the room. "He put something on Ayame's forehead!" She pointed at Toshiro who was standing outside the door, watching us, possibly amused.

"Yoruichi, pork ramen sounds good- I'll go make it. Ayame, do you want some?" I stood up, groaning, as I felt the soreness in my body worsen.

"Ayame has ice cream!" She shouted, running out of the room. To go get her ice cream, I guess.

I made my way to the kitchen, still trying not to think. I managed to get there without running in to anything that made me think. And then I got to the kitchen. Where Daichi was.

"Daichi-" I started to say, only to be cut off by him dropping a metal bowl with a loud clang.

"I would ask you what the hell is going on, but I think you would answer the same way the other three did. I see your back in your body or whatever the hell you are." His voice was cold, but I could see he was broken on the inside. So many people were broken today. Daichi, myself, that dead shinigami. Even Yoruichi broke her normal characteristics.

I will fix this. I will become stronger, so I can protect everyone. I don't want anyone to ever be broken again.

…olo…

Review, please!


	11. Avoiding

Karin's Pov

I walked into the art room and sat down at my art station with the stuff I needed to continue my painting. I studied my picture. A little girl was sitting on a chair and holding a doll like her own baby.

The object of this project was to draw a picture of something that represented you, or someone close to you. I decided on making Yuzu the girl in my picture. She used to hold her little doll and care for it. She would put bandages on it when it was "hurt". It was practice to be a nurse in the family clinic.

The air conditioning kicked in right then and a brief flash of spiritual pressure passed by me. I put some energy into looking for another bit, but I couldn't find any. I glanced towards the vent and decided that it was probably someone from the classroom one over.

I made little strokes in the background from dark in the center to light on the outside. I finished it. I took a few steps back and looked at it for a while. After that, I left it there to dry and went to wash my paintbrushes. As I washed, I heard the bell ring. Soon there is going to be a huge line for the sink to wash out brushes. I headed to get my backpack.

I reached down to grab my backpack and felt a push. "Ow!" I whispered I looked up and saw a girl with blond hair and black roots, wearing too much makeup and five inch heels looking down at me. Marissa Kurotsuchi. She was one of the girls who frequently took the enjoyment of making my life worse than it needs to be.

I waited for her to go whine to the teacher that I tripped her or something, but it never happened. She widened her eyes and pouted, "I am so sorry! I am like such a klutz!" She practically shouted glancing behind her shoulder a someone, most likely male, and put out her hand to help me up.

"It's ok." I said, shocked. I took her hand and stood up.

She glanced again behind her. The person who she put on the show for must have left, because she wiped her perfectly manicured hand on her to short skirt and sneered, "Watch where you're going, bitch." She kneed me in the back on last time for good measure and walked out of the room. I felt anger boil inside of me. If we weren't on school grounds and in front of a teacher, I would have messed up her pretty little face. But my dad doesn't need another kid like my thick skulled brother. I have to keep things quiet for Yuzu and dad's sake.

I already had everything I needed for homework in my bag, so I headed for home. I plugged my iPod into my ears. I scrolled through the playlist and chose a particularly loud song to drown out all of my thoughts. I walked past the area that was currently being built into a new playground and sports practice area. There was no one working today.

The noise coming from my iPod muffled out the scream, but not completely. I put it back in the backpack and ran towards the source of the screaming. "Come on. Come with me. You don't want to see your little sister get hurt, do you?" I heard a rough male voice say.

I turned and the first thing I saw was the knife. Then the large, mean-looking man. Then the little girl who had the knife pressed to her throat. The last thing I saw was the girl crouching against a tree with tears streaming down her face holding a crushed cell phone in her trembling hands. She had the look of indecision and pain on her face. No one noticed me. I dropped my bag and ran to the man, taking the knife from him before he realized I was there.

I sat on top of the swing set and threw the knife past his face and into a tree twenty feet behind him, where it stayed, buried to the hilt. I may not get exactly what I want yet, but I can still train.

He turned to me and grinned, "Another one? This one seems feisty!" He dropped the little girl and her head made a cracking sound on the pavement. I winced. He looked at me on the swing set, probably wondering how I got up there. He picked up a big rock from the newly construed duck pond and threw it at me. I jumped off the swing to avoid being hit. "You couldn't hurt anyone! What do you think you can accomplish, sweetheart?" I saw him run towards me, but I couldn't move. All I could see was the little girl with a big cut on her leg. A little girl whom I failed to protect. He took my shoulders and pushed me into the new swing set pole.

"Run!" I panicked yelling at the oldest sister who looked frozen with shock. Her little sister was tugging on her arm. "Call the police station. You need to go," He pushed my head into the pole again harshly, "NOW!" I yelled. They ran. He hit me across the face hard enough to draw blood. I kicked him in his soft spot, and he loosened his grip enough for me to squirm out of the way.

He looked back at the retreating figures and yelled, "No!" He turned back to me. "You let them go!" He started towards me again.

I did the only thing I could do. I focused some of my spiritual energy into a soccer ball that was sitting near my bag and kicked it at the man. It hit him so hard, that he flew back ten feet and coughed up blood.

He glared at me and took something out of his pocket. I felt my stomach turn as I recognized brass knuckles. I stopped trying to fight and just ran. The odds were completely against me he was at least a foot and a half taller than me and armed. I knew I shouldn't have tossed the knife away. I heard a grunt behind me and I turned to see the man caught up. The first thing I heard was a crunch, and pain exploded all the way up my left arm. "AGHHHH!" I shrieked. My vision fuzzed and he kicked my stomach and I fell like a rag doll onto the ground. He raised his arm again and I braced myself, ready to dive out of the way.

I heard an alarm in the background, coming this way. The man must have heard it too, because he turned and tried to run away. I pulled myself together and pulled my bag (with my right arm) into the nearest ally where, hopefully, the police wouldn't notice me and my family wouldn't be alerted. I pulled my phone out of my bag and dialed Yoroichi.

"Hello?" I heard Yoroichi say through the phone.

"Please help me! I think my left arm is broken…." She cut me off.

"We didn't get a hollow alert! How did you hurt yourself?" She demanded of me.

"There was a man two girls he was threatening them. I had to help." I whispered.

"Of course you did. Just like your brother." She muttered, then louder, "I'm coming. Where are you?"

I gave her instructions and she hung up, promising she would be there soon. The pain in my arm hurt worse, now that I calmed down. Just the slightest movements made me want to scream. Plus, my head was throbbing and I was struggling to not fall asleep to avoid never waking up. I couldn't help it. My vision went fuzzy and I blacked out.

Toshiro's POV 

Apparently if you enter school in the middle of the year, the teachers have to make sure you are "up to date" on all the work done previously this year. I should have brought the mind replacement (what is it called?). After four placement tests, I was allowed to go home. I need to follow Karin from school three days a week, according to Yamamoto, so I planned on doing that today. Now, I have to choose another day. Well, at least I don't have to worry about something bad happening to her. It's not like she can get into that much trouble in two hours, right?

Karin's POV 

I forced opened my eyes and tried to sit up, but when I did pain shot up my left arm. I blinked and glanced around me. I recognized Urahara Kisuke's house. I sighed and laid back down. The sliding door opened and Orihime walked in. she smiled a huge smile and said to me, "Yoroichi called me and said that Kurosaki-kun's sister was hurt, so I got down here right away to fix you back up!"

I inwardly sighed. It's nice that Orihime would fix my arm with her powers, but she is so optimistic all of the time. And completely in love with my brother, who has absolutely no idea. I mean come on! She is the only person who calls him Kurosaki-kun. Most people call him Ichigo. I personally like Rukia better, plus she is so sweet to Yuzu and I.

Orihime said something and a golden yellow half oval surrounded my arm. I immediately felt relief, and then worry started to pour in after that. "Orihime, has anyone called my family about this?" I gestured to my arm.

"Well, not exactly. Yoroichi was arguing with Tessai about whether or not we should call your family. In the end, Yoroichi won and we didn't call anyone. I hope your okay with that! Kurosaki-kun will be so worried about his little sister!" She replied in her cheerful tone and removed her powers.

I felt the worry start to make its way out of my body again, then felt the tiredness sink back in. I blinked hard and started to stand up. "Oh no! You can't stand yet! You could get even more hurt!" Orihime's eyes widened.

"No, I need…" I was cut off, yet again, by a black cat that slinked into the room.

"No, she needs to get home. Would you like for me to accompany you?" It said.

"No thanks, Yoroichi. I do have a question, though. When will you be…?"

"NO!" She shouted at me. "Sorry for yelling, but we can't talk about that right now." She gave me THAT look. The one I know so well.

"Alright. I can head home now." I sighed as I grabbed my bag and headed out the door.

On my way home I kept thinking to myself. The one thing I really want right now. The one thing I can only speak to Yoroichi about and NEVER let anyone else in on the secret, not even Kisuke. I want to be able to protect people better, like the people in the park today. I wasn't to be able to defend the living and the dead from hollows. I want to be a soul reaper.


	12. A Meeting

K POV

Yuki practically glomped me after school and dragged me to this dress shop. Now I am surrounded with frilly, shiny, girly, dresses. But hey, it helps me avoid certain people. I have tried on so many dresses that either Yuki or Yuzu deem "too pink" or "too tight" or "too not you". Sigh.

The dance is tomorrow, and I don't have a date, so why the hell do I need to be here. All day I had Daichi glaring at me, Yuki introducing me to guys who she wants me to go to the dance with, and Yuzu calling me even more than usual to ask about my favorite dress style and color. I could feel him there, at my school. It worried me. I not only felt angry, hurt, and betrayed by the fact he had been following me, but I still felt the rising need to ask him if he had seen me naked.

So here I am, pulling on yet another dress fated to not be "the one". It was black with thin straps. It was tight around my upper half and kind of floated out at my hips. It had some black lace and tulle at the bottom, also. I actually kind of liked this one.

I opened the door to the mirrored room I tried the dress in and once again, Yuzu took a picture of me. I will have to find and destroy those pictures.

"I love it!" squealed Yuki. "It is perfect! I can do your hair, and we can put makeup on you! I know you don't have a date, but that's ok, because you can just go with us! I didn't get asked either."

"Ok." I replied. "But only lip gloss and mascara. And I will not allow you to have scissors of any kind near my head."

"OH MY GOD! She agreed! I can't believe it!" Yuki and Yuzu look so happy, and what kind of person would I be to ruin their fun?

Then the pocket of my shirt, laying in the dressing room started to beep.

…olo…

Well, if you are wondering what that beep was, it was a hollow alert notice phone. That I stole. From Kisuke.

I shrugged off the dress and threw it and my wallet to Yuzu shouting, "I forgot to get something from school!" and got out of that shop. According to the device, the hollow was only a short distance away, so I pulled out the substitute soul candy that I also stole from Kisuke. Don't give me that look. I wasn't going to just ask for it. Can you imagine? "Hey, Yoruichi can I, a totally untrained teenage girl soul reaper, have a way to go stab big ugly monsters with sharp pointy objects?" That would not go well.

I ditched my body in the same alley I passed out in the week before and headed to the same park.

"Hey, ugly." I have always wanted to say that! I saw it in a movie one time. What I wasn't expecting was the hollow to be that ugly. It was about twice my height, and it stood close enough to me I could smell it's breath coming out of its shark-like mouth.

Yea. Its breath smelled like death. Literally.

"Gross." I scrunched up my nose, and pulled out my zampacto. I have seen Ichigo and Yoruichi kill hollows before, and I have killed a few ones about my size, so I was pretty confident. Then it started to spew acid.

I was not expecting that, I thought as my sleeve and arm started to burn. I winced, and sort of lunged at the hollow. I managed to cut it a little on its arm, but that didn't do anything. I dodged another spew of acid and swung upwards at it. And missed. Then tripped.

My eyes widened as the hollow loomed over me. I squeezed my eyes shut waiting to be eaten.

_Use the sword. _

That shocked me into opening my eyes. A damn voice in my freaking head.

_Swing the sword. NOW. _

So I did as it said and swung. The hollow started to disintegrate into nothing.

…olo…

On the way home I determined that I needed practice. Lots of practice. So I did the reasonable thing and send a nice, kind "please train me and not tell anyone about it" text to Yoruichi. She replied back, saying to meet her at the river Ishida trained at. I made my way there biding my time thinking of what to say to her when I got there.

But when I got there wasn't a little black kitty waiting for me. There was a boy, leaning against a giant rock, his arms crossed glaring at nothing in particular. A boy with white hair and piercing blue eyes.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and said, "Hey, Toshiro."

So much for avoiding him.

"Hn." It sort of made me angry that he could only manage to get a little grunt out.

"Where is Yoruichi?" I could hear my voice go cold, a sharp tone ringing throughout the surrounding areas.

"Why don't you tell me?" Was his only reply.

I tried another approach. "Why are you here?"

"Yoruichi told me to be here. She threatened me with talking to humans in her cat form. And that would mean more paperwork." He sighed, and sat down next to the boulder.

"Why are _you _here?" He asked in a tone that didn't sound very interested.

"Well I was going to ask Yoruichi for some help with… recent, um, issues,…" I stuttered near the end.

"What kind of issues?" Toshiro had sat straight up, seemingly suddenly interested.

"It's nothing. It's just I had a little problem with a hollow, and wanted a little bit of help. I'm leaving now, anyway." The minute those words came flying out of my mouth, I silently wished that my teeth were strong enough to bite off my tongue so I couldn't speak properly ever again.

With that I turned, ready to leave, and go back to denying the fact Toshiro existed in bliss, when I felt a breeze by my left side and saw Toshiro right in front of me.

"Hollow?" He asked, deadpan.

"It's nothing." I replied quickly getting over the shock of having someone flash step in front of me.

"Tell me." His voice rang through my ears and thoroughly pissed me off. No one can tell me what to do,

"Don't tell me what to do." I imagined that my glare burned a hole in his head. I lifted my arm ready to; actually I don't really know what I was going to do. Stick my finger in Toshiro's face and lecture him?

When I made that movement, pain, like liquid fire shot up and down that arm and I clenched it, wincing.

"What's wrong?" Toshiro's panicked voice cooled my anger temporarily.

"The hollow got me with some sort of acid or something." I replied. "I was going to get Yoruichi to deal with it."

I found my body in his arms faster than I could blink and he was using flash step to get out of the forest quickly.

"What the hell do you think you are doing? Put me down!" I kicked at him.

"I'm bringing you to Yoruichi so she can fix your arm." His eyes stared straight forward, and I was glad they were, because that way he couldn't see me blush and hide my face, once I realized where his hands were.


	13. Preparations

K POV

I winced as the wet, soapy washcloth hit my burning skin.

"If you hadn't of ran off like that on your own, we wouldn't be in this position." Yoruichi chided. I was blushing, wincing, and smiling at the same time. I had no idea that was possible, but I was embarrassed, in pain, and happy at the same time.

I was embarrassed because I was sitting in the middle of a room, getting my arm cleaned out with Yoruichi's idea of a "shirt" on. So her black and white backless shirt and my soccer shorts. I felt exposed, but Toshiro, who was sitting at the edge of the pad on the floor I was sitting on, didn't really seem to care. That was reassuring, and a blow to my self-confidence at the same time.

I was wincing because of the pain. Stupid hollow.

I was happy because Yoruichi said she would train me, and actually (sort of) apologized for sending Toshiro to come get me. But then THAT subject came up.

"Did you get invited to that dance?" Yoruichi knew just what to say to bring the mood down.

…olo…

T POV

I was waiting for Karin's arm to be cleaned, when I heard one question I didn't want to hear bubble up from Yoruichi's mind.

"Did you get invited to that dance?" The question was directed at Karin and I froze up waiting to see if she was going, knowing that I would have to be there if she was.

"No." I breathed a sigh of relief at her answer.

"But Yuzu and Yuki are forcing me along with them so I have to be there anyway." Damn it.

"Toshiro has to go if you're going." I inwardly groaned at the thought of actually having to go to the dance. The thought of a bunch of hormonal teenagers humping and grinding in public disgusts me.

"I'm going to bed." I got up, walking to a quick shower, before retiring to my usual resting place.

…olo…

K POV

I rinsed off the remaining soap from my body and stepped out of the shower. Feeling the slight sting on my arm, I glanced at it, knowing Yuzu was going to have a fit when she tried to shove me into a dress… tomorrow.

It's not that I have anything against dances; I just never really liked them. I don't like the constantly being rubbed on by some random guy I just met three seconds ago. So I tend to stand off to the side and watch the entire thing. If you like them, it's cool, more power to you. But I just like building a decent relationship with people before I decide to get down and dirty.

I wonder how Toshiro feels about dances. May be he likes them?

I sank down into my bed trying to grab some sleep before my sister wakes me up tomorrow and "beautifies" me.

…olo…

Do you ever have one of those moments where you swear you just closed your eyes and then you are being shaken awake by a hyped up sister?

I'm having one of those moments.

She is all happy because we don't have classes today on account of the dance. Great, now I'm being pushed towards a shower. It's 9 am, for kami's sake! Why do I need start looking nice at 9 am?

After a long shower, which involved shaving and conditioning and something called "exfoliating", I was allowed out of the bathroom, only to be bombarded by hair styling products and blow dryers and curling wands. Then I was dragged straight over to a table that had more cosmetics than a drugstore. Just the sight of it scared me. I could have sworn I said "mascara and lipgloss only", did I not? But no, Yuzu decided to go all out and soon my face was decorated with eye shadow, eyeliner, blush, lipstick, and all sorts of other thing that I'm not sure what to call.

After she was all done, the end product was actually kind of nice. I looked a lot better than usual.

Fortunately, she let me go watch a television station until time to go. She tossed my dress and shoes at me and Dad took about a billion pictures, all the while sobbing about how his little girls are growing up.

And then the doorbell rang.


	14. Unpleasent Surprises

K pov

I walked to this horrible dance in a dress, mostly because I don't like cars much because of what happened to mom. With Toshiro. It was awkward. We didn't speak.

And so here I am. Standing in front of the school, head already throbbing because of the loud upbeat music and I can feel the heat radiating from our gym from the clashing grinding bodies. Ew. I so do not want to go in there. And judging by Toshiro's face, he doesn't want to be in there either. But we sucked it up, handed in our tickets and made our way into the mosh pit of smothered bodies we call dancing.

"HEY! WILL YOU DANCE WITH ME?" Ah, it's so loud in here you have to scream to get anyone's attention. Oh—she is asking Toshiro. And dragging him. I feel like laughing at that face he is making.

I made my way over to the tables to sit for the rest of the dance, secretly taking my gaming device out of my bag. Take that!

…olo…

T Pov

This obnoxious girl was dragging me into the middle of that mosh pit that human's call dancing. Once we finally got to the dance floor she began to hump and grind against me, and any other body that was within her reach. This is why I don't like dances. I wanted to be back in my hakama fighting off all of the hollows that came for me. Disgusted, I left to the dance floor and made my way over to the table Karin was sitting at, figuring that boredom was much better than this nasty display of affection.

Sitting down, I noticed that she had a gaming device in her hands and was smiling at whatever she was doing in the game. I also notice the way she bit her lip when she concentrated, and on the way her hair hung down just below her bust line. She seems so absorbed into the game, that was a sure she even noticed I sat down.

…olo…

K Pov

I'm not an idiot. I could see him watching me, judging me, but I continued to play my game.

Kill those noobs! Slashing and hacking down zombies and monsters in the game was almost as good as sending those hollows back to where they came from in real life. Although I must say, if I had a choice I wouldn't be wearing the dress to hack or slash anything real or not.

Hey, I might as well recluse myself from the very beginning of this dance, rather than stumble around waiting for someone to talk to me and still end up in a corner somewhere. Although, I thought Yuzu was bringing Yuki…

"KARIN!" Oh, there she is.

"Hey Yuki. What's up?"

"This dance is so awesome! Don't you think so?" She was squealing in excitement.

"Yeah, it's great." Beautiful sarcasm. But Yuki decided not to notice.

"Let's go dance!" It's not like I really had much of a choice anyway, considering Yuki had already dragged me halfway across the floor.

"Dance with me!" She screamed over the loud beating music.

I dejected myself to an awkward little dance that consisted of me swaying back and forth, avoiding contact with any other human body. Whoo-hoo, this is sooo much fun. I actually eventually got into the dancing and was moving to my own groove, a lot less slutty then my fellow students surrounding me.

And then my mood dropped about 10 levels. All because of the soft, slow beat radiating from the speakers. Oh well, I needed a break anyways. I swear dancing takes more effort than a soccer game and kicking a hollow's ass combined.

…olo…

T Pov

Damn all of these women! I do not want to dance with , them and there are plenty of young men drooling over them willing to dance.

I shook the last one off and sat back down. Well, Karin went off to dance and left me here FOR 6 SONGS. But I did get to watch her body sway…. Not that I was watching her! I was watching everyone dance!

I let myself become absorbed in my thoughts, so it startled me when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Hi! I have a favor to ask of you." Came a quiet, but confident voice from behind me. When I turned around I recognized Yuzu Kurosaki, and a boy standing behind her.

"Hn." Was my only reply.

"Would you ask my sister, Karin, she is over there, to dance? I really want her to have a dance and you look bored so…" She trailed off, her eyes bright.

I thought it over. On the plus side, if I danced with her, I could prove to myself that I'm not… attracted… to her. On the down side… I might be… attr- NO! I do not think she is cute. At all. I mean she isn't ugly, and she has really nice… Damn it.

"Hn, alright." Wait- Please tell me I didn't just say that. Oh well, here goes.

"Hey, Karin." She looked up, seemingly startled. "Dance with me."

Her eyes got a bit wider and I almost wanted to smile, but I didn't. I took her hand in mine and pulled her away from the floor, so we weren't surrounded by bodies.

…olo…

K pov

He asked me to dance… Sort of. I hope he doesn't think I am doing the grind thing, because if he does, I have nothing against castrating him. But I'm not sure I would want him to lose his…. I am not think thinking this.

He took my hand in his, and let me away from the dance floor, over to a dimmed area with hardly anyone. I think the DJ could read my mind because the song switched from a heavy bass beat to a soft smooth ballad. I wonder if I can make him tick…

If I can make him tick, I have power. I want that power. I slid my hands behind his neck and pressed my body close to his. I felt his hands rest on my waist. The music seeped into my brain and unto my body. I moved against Toshiro fluidly and smirked when a felt his hand press harder.

What was I doing?

…olo…

T pov

What was she doing? Her body was pressed against mine and the heat radiating from her was so inviting. Her breath grazed my check and washed over my neck. It was driving me crazy.

Karin's nose nudged my ear and her head tilted back so her face was not even a mere inch away from mine. My chest was heaving, and her eyes were dark and they looked almost… lustful? My body was closing in on her, my mouth getting closer to her's, my hands pulled our hips together…

And then my world exploded.

No seriously, it exploded. There was an actual explosion in the middle of the room. Immediately Karin ripped herself out of my arms and ran towards the commotion. Even though I knew there was danger, and that I should be changing into soul form, I couldn't help but watch her move as she ran.

So maybe I'm attracted to her.

XXX

K pov

The minute I heard the explosion, I snapped back into it. I realized what was going on, then realized that I didn't remember any of this happening. He was about to kiss me… But something told me it was partly my fault.

Not the time to think about my personal life. I switched into "soul reaper mode". And then I saw him.

"Grimmjow…" I whispered, tensing.

"Yo. Whats up, buttercup?" He pushed his zampacto into the ground and everyone in the room fell to the ground. Including me.

"Don't call me buttercup. What the fuck is wrong with you? What do you want?" I glared.

"We want you." He smirked.

"I thought you wanted my brother." I kept glaring.

"Stupid fucker wouldn't help me." He grimaced, unconsciously gripping the back of his neck. "But Aizen told me to get you, so I am here to get you."

"I'm not going to go. You can't make me."

"Yes, I can. The shrimp over there is all tied up, and I can put you on your knees in seconds with my spiritual pressure." Damn him and that goddamn smirk. I glanced over at Toshiro, wondering why he wasn't here to help me, and saw that he was, in fact, all tied up. He was fighting with Ulquiorra and losing.

I didn't want to admit it, but I was afraid of Grimmjow. I could feel that I wouldn't be able to beat him. I knew that would be taken. But I would have to try anyways.

I swallowed the pill I always keep in my bra and watched as my body fell to the ground. I pulled out my zanpakuto and shifted my weight so I was ready to strike.

Of course, the whole time Grimmjow stood there laughing.

"You think you have a chance?" Suddenly, there he was behind me, arm around my neck in a casual, friendly way. But I knew it wasn't casual. He could crush my neck with one squeeze of his arm. "I am going to humor you. Let's fight. I want to see how long you can last."

I turned around and swiped my zanpakuto at Grimmjow, and was only a little surprised to see that I didn't even nick him. I flash of silver flew by my head, and I barely managed to avoid it.

"You are good on the defense, I see. You suck at offence." His words irritated me, and I grit my teeth. I lunged for him, but he just moved out of the way.

It was like a dance. A violent, twisted dance. Grimmjow was stabbing and slashing and hacking away, and all I could do was try to avoid them. Some, I was lucky enough to avoid. Others cut my skin and let blood drip and pool around me on the floor. He was having fun. He was laughing in a cruel maniacal way.

I knew he was missing on purpose, because he told me that they wanted me. They wouldn't kill me if they wanted me, right? There was no voice telling me what to do, nobody here to save me. Toshiro was gone, through a hole in the wall with Ulquiorra.

"I'm gettin bored. I'm gonna end this." He brought his zampakuto down on mine in an arc, and mine split in half. My body stilled then the most excruciating pain of my life washed over me. I saw black.

…olo…

Please review!

I need ideas on how to end this fiction, because I'm not sure where I am going with this.


	15. Stuck

_Hey hun. Wake up, now. We need to talk about your lack of control._

I opened my eyes and noticed that I was in my spirit world. It looked different than it did last time. Mainly because I wasn't floating in midair tied up with chains. It actually appeared as though I was in a cave. A nice cozy cave with a warm fire and thick blankets. The blankets were much needed, because delicate snowflakes layered on top of one another right outside the mouth of the cave.

My zanpakuto sat near the fire, legs crossed, in a two piece deerskin outfit, hair braided, looking much happier and far more concerned than the last time I saw her.

_I have a few things I want to speak with you about. Actually, I silenced you, so you will be listening until I decide I want to hear you out. _

I tried to protest, but found that she had in fact done something to me so that I could open my mouth, but no sound would come out. I can't say I was actually angry.

_First off, you need to learn to connect with me without passing out, but you can deal with that later. Second, you are in a bit of a mess right now, but that also can be dealt with later. What I really want to talk to you about is that boy. _

If I could have made noise I probably would have let out a strangled yelp. Instead, blood rushed to my face, out of embarrassment or irritation I wasn't sure.

_You like him! And therefore, he is distracting you. You lose control when you are around him. Whatever emotion it is – anger, resentment, lust – you still lose control. And when you lose control, I gain it. Are you getting what I'm saying? Nod of you get it. _

Flashes of his mouth and the feeling of his hands went through my mind. If I could have screamed, I would have. I settled for attempting to lunge at her and gave her my nastiest glare when that attempt

_I hope this gives you incentive to gain control. Because until you do, I get to put you in difficult situations. I have one last thing to tell you before you wake up. Even though you are in a really bad position right now, I think you should know my name. _

Her form started to morph. Her flesh sunk in on itself, bones condensed, hair changed color, and clothes started to pool around her. In a matter of moments, I was looking at a completely different person. Said person walked over to me and pressed her and against my mouth. I look over her small smiling face, cute pigtails, and big eyes. When she removed her hand from my mouth all I could think to say was "Ayame…"

And then I woke up.

This time I was really awake. And I was in a far less comfortable position than the last time I woke up. My wrists were bound by steel chains and my ankles were shackled to a surprisingly fluffy bed. Dark room, no windows, one very solid looking concrete door. I was, however, pleasantly surprised to find myself back in my body.

I was not pleasantly surprised when I realized that Grimmjow was lying beside me poking me with his zanpakuto.

"You're awake!" To my displeasure, he seemed genuinely happy that I was up. Aizen told me I could play with you bu-"

"Why the hell am I here?" I interrupted.

Grimmjow gave me a maniacal, yet pleased, grin. "I'm actually allowed to tell you that! Aizen needs you to burn something for him, and he wants Ichigo back here so Szayzel can test some shit out on him."

"Why can't he burn stuff without me? And why would having me here get Ichigo here?" I asked.

"I don't know. And have you ever noticed that Ichi has this whole hero complex thing going on?"

"Whatever. Can you get me food? As long as it's not hollow meat I don't care what it is."

"Someone will bring you food soon. But right now I have to report to Aizen that you woke up. He is having another damn conference that we have to go to." He started talking to himself at the end.

And just like that he was gone. I relaxed into the bed below me as much as I could, having been tied up. I chose to focus on getting out of this. Scenarios flashed through my mind and ideas were tossed aside. I sat there for who knows how long trying to make a plan to get out. I eventually decided to take it one step at a time and get out of the damn chains.

It was tricky, but I managed to get the last soul candy out of my bra and down my throat. I was pushed out of my body and smacked on the hard floor. I used my zanpakuto to cut the bindings off of my body and dragged my limp body over to the door.

"Shakkaho, number 31. Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south!" I shouted, my hands crossed over one another, facing the door. A blast of red energy shot open the wall and I concealed my spiritual pressure, hoping that it would gain me a few minutes. I made my way through hallways and passages, rooms and towers, but I could find the exit. I didn't know what I would do one I got to the exit, but I knew I had to get there.

_Let me lead you._

My zanpakuto's voice rippled through my head and I felt my zanpakuto twitch at my side. When I out it in front of me, it started tugging me behind it. I felt a bit like a dog.

She led me to a hallway with many doors and something in me told me that these were rooms where arrancar lived. The espada were in a conference, Grimmjow had said. I don't think he meant to. I snapped out of my thoughts when I realized I was at a wide open arch that lead out into Hueco Mundo. It couldn't be this easy. There was no way Aizen was just going to let me walk out of here.

I tried anyways. The minutes my foot was within two feet of the arch, a piercing shriek tore through the palace. I had my hand over my ears and was wincing away from the sound.

"No, no, no. You can't leave. Lord Aizen needs you here." When I looked up there was a woman standing in front of me, holding two very long, very sharp knives. And they were pointed at me.

I dropped my body and drew my sword, hoping to maybe distract her and run or something of the sort. She wouldn't kill me. She needs me. I chanted this over and over in my head until I sort of decided it was true.

Then I did the stupidest thing I have ever done in my life, and took a swing at her. I missed, but that was to be expected.

"Hah! You think you can get through me?" Her incredulous gaze bore into me and I had the urge to fight.

"Maybe." I smirked. I was losing control. I would never do this. Ayame was…

"AYAME STOP FIGHTING ME" I screamed at myself.

_Then let me help you. I want to live, do you?_

_**Fine. If I let you help will you abuse it?**_

_Maybe. But at least we will get out of here alive._

_**No. I can do this on my own.**_

_Have it your way. But when you cave, I get bragging rights._

After that brief conversation with Ayame, I barely had time to realize it was the first time I made contact with her without passing out before I was kneed in the gut and pinned to the ground by a very angry looking arrancar.

"Look at me." I didn't want to look at her. I just wanted to stab her. Over and over again. I struggled, but she cut that out with a smack to my face. It stung.

"We can do this the easy was, and you can come with me back to your room, or we can do this the hard way and I knock you out and drag you to your room." She spat at me.

"I think I'll take the hard way, thanks." I smacked my head up onto her, and though it hurt, t got her off of me. I swung my sword at her and she swung right back.

She was beating me. That was all I could think every time I hit the wall and every time the cut open another area of my body. I was getting weaker, I didn't have time for kido, and my spiritual pressure was draining out of me. I wasn't even using my spiritual pressure, so I wasn't sure why it was going. She kicked me in the gut and stepped on arm. It cracked. I screamed. My mind was getting fuzzy. I had to win.

_**Ok, please, please help me. I need your name. **_

_You already know it. All you need to do is use it. _

I did already know her name. But I was afraid. Afraid of what the power would do to me. But after getting another blow to the head, I practically crawled up the wall, help my zanpakuto out in front of me with my good arm and whispered, "Rise Ayame."

A flash came before my eyes and in an instant I was wearing something reminiscent of what Yoruichi wears, my bones were healed, and I was on fire.

There were white and blue flames licking up the sides of my arms and legs. It didn't burn and it didn't spread. I was in amazement of my shikai when an unpleasant female voice said to me, "The little girl finally decided to pull out the big guns. If you can actually call your flaming ass a weapon."

I just smiled thinly and moved my arms in a circle before me, creating a ball of fire. Like a soccer ball. I set in down and kicked it, straight at her gut. The blow slammed her against a wall and burned away the clothing covering her stomach.

I was expecting a cry of pain, or a look of amazement, but all I got was a glare and a retort, "That was my favorite shirt. Because of that, I think it's time for your body to die."

Her grin got larger and my eyes became petrified when I realized what she meant to do. She was going to kill my body. I would be stuck in shinigami for forever.

The woman took one of her sword and though it at the ceiling above my body. Everything got silent for me as I watched my body be buried under the crumbled ceiling.

"You just killed me." From what I could hear, my voice sounded calm. Too calm. I was going to snap. I could feel a fire burning within my chest, rising, threatening to incinerate everything in sight.

And then I screamed, flames bursting out of me from ever side, burning everything they touched. The woman, the arch way, everything lit on fire. It was beautiful destruction. I stopped screaming, but everything kept burning. I wasn't afraid I would burn, but I needed to get out of here before anyone could get to me. But I didn't. I just crawled over to my body and pushed rocks off of it. There it was, dead. I was dead to the world. I couldn't make myself try to leave. I just sat there watching everything burn holding my body's hand. The fire may not burn me, but the falling debris would have definitely killed me.

I heard a rip behind me, but I didn't even bother to turn around. Why bother? I was dead anyways, so my spirit dying would matter much.

"Karin! Karin, what going on? Are you alright?" I heard a frantic, worried voice behind me. I slowly turned around wondering if this was a trick, but when I turned around I saw no tricks. Just a boy standing the middle of a dimensional tear between the worlds.

"Ichinii?" Shock crossed my features.

"Karin! You are ok! I came as soon as I could! Come on, we have to go." He gestured towards the rip.

"But, my body. It's…" I couldn't help the strangled sob that came through my chest.

Ichigo's eyes hardened and he swept up my body in his arms and took a hold of my hand pulling us through the rip right before the section of building I had been fighting in caved in.

I was spit out on the other side looking a mess, staring up at a bunch of worried faces.


	16. Broken, Crushed, Then Burnt to Ashes

K Pov

The minute I popped out on the other side, I was thrust into a dark windowless room with a bottle of meds guaranteed to knock me out and a hard cot guaranteed to give me cramps. Oh, and did I mention that my assumed dead body sat on the only other cot in the room. The only person that spoke to me before I was isolated in this dark hell hole was Yoruichi. She asked the normal questions: Are you ok? Did they hurt you? Why were you in the middle of a burning room?

Then she proceeded to tell me to "sleep it off" and that my body was in a coma and under no circumstances was I allowed to even touch my body. Whoopee. My mind was a swirling dark mess of confusion and my head was throbbing from the effort of rationalizing it. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that outside my locked room people were talking about what to do. About what Ichigo should do. I understand that this is his fight, not mine.

I'm perfectly happy to let him have it, too.

And with that realization, I curled up in a little ball on my cot and cowered under the thick blanket Yoruichi had provided me with and drifted off into a surprisingly dreamless sleep.

..oIo...

I was abruptly ripped out of my first pleasant sleep since god knows when by Daichi, of all people.

"What do you want?" I groaned out squinted in my dark room to find his towering body.

"To talk to you. You went missing from the dance and nobody would tell me where you had gone. Yuki and I were worrying. I want an explanation. I was lucky that I managed to catch the short white haired guy while he was getting groceries." His whispered tone held genuine worry that made me feel guilty and irritated at the same time.

"Look, Daichi. I can't really explain anything too you. To make a long and confusing story short, I was kidnapped by a couple of guys and my brother got me back. And my body is in a coma." I winced mentally as I said the last part, certain that it would bring a flurry of questions.

It didn't, though. Daichi just nodded, like he spoke to people's souls all the time.

"So I can tell everyone you're ok? How much longer are you going to be away from school? You should see the gym. It's totaled." He spoke conversationally, not understanding just how NOT ok I was.

"I need you to tell anyone who asks that I got hit with some rubbish at the dance and am in a coma. No visitors. Honestly, I'm not sure I 'm coming back to school. I can't just show up like I am. Nobody but you would be able to see me." I replied, crawling back under the covers to imply that he should leave.

His face fell. "This is serious, isn't it? You aren't coming back."

"Yes." My face remained impassive.

"I really do like you. I'll miss you, Karin." The way he smiled could break the coldest heart. Then he left. Nothing special. Just left.

…oIo…

T Pov

I was training. Sweat pouring off of me, frustration growing in me, and all of this effort not release the tense feeling resting in my head and shoulders. My homemade punching bag was a shredded pile of plastic after one particularly anger releasing punch. I had sealed off my spiritual energy so to not be disturbed and so it took more effort to train.

I was doing pretty pathetic damage to a tree and pretty great damage to myself when I felt a fisted hand slam into my face with the force of a bulldozer.

"What-"I stumbled back a little at the pure rage I saw in Ichigo's eyes.

"You. You just let them take her! You bastard, what the hell is wrong with you?" His fist connected with the tree I was taking hits at and it snapped right in half.

"I was trying to protect her! Do you know how hard it is to protect someone and fight with Ulquiorra, or any espada, at the same time?" I asked.

"Yes, I sure as hell do know! You should have avoided fighting, taken Karin, and gotten the hell out of there! She is my baby sister, and you let her get kidnapped!" A fist to the gut left me sputtering, but I refused to lift a finger to protect myself. I didn't want a full blown fight with Ichigo.

"They could have tortured her, killed her, or worse. I know she is just an assignment to you, but do you even care about her at all?" He started yelling, a deep baritone echoing off of the trees and bouncing off the river, straight into my skull where they awakened my anger.

"YES! Yes, I really do care for her. She is beautiful, strong, amazing, and I wouldn't want her hurt more than anything in the world. I am far madder at myself than you are mad at me for not being able to get her out of there." I yelled at him, my hands tight and fisted at my sides.

And I froze. Shit. I can't believe I said that out loud. Admitting to myself that I was deeply attracted to Karin in many ways was hard enough on its own, now I had to deal with saying it aloud. And Ichigo.

I looked at him, and he was rooted in his spot staring at me with a befuddled face, probably similar to the one I was giving him.

Then he grinned.

Actually grinned.

He told me, "If you ever hurt her, I'm going to kill you." And left. Nothing special. Just left.

Is it pathetic to admit I had never been so scared in my entire existence?

…oIo…

K pov

After Daichi left, I went back to sleep. Yet again, I was pulled out of my dreamless sleep, this time by Yoruichi.

"What?" I asked, groggy and irritated at being awoken.

"Come with me. I need to speak with your zanpakuto." I warily glanced up at the slender, looming figure and made a vague grunting sound that was supposed to come out as a 'why'. Of course, Yoruichi is fluent in my minimalistic grunting. "We need to know why she was in a human form, and we need to know more about the power you have so we can train you properly." She continued on.

I would be thrilled to get some answers, but there is a bloody problem with that. SHE WON'T TALK TO ME! I don't know what it is, but I must have pissed Ayame off.

"Here. Take her. Maybe you can get her to talk. I have been trying, but she is avoiding me like the plague." I shoved my zanpakuto into Yourichi's arms, then flopped back onto my makeshift bed.

"I'll ask Kisuke to bring out her human form, but I still may need you to help. I know you have had a long da-"

If looks could kill, or even maim, the look I was giving Yourichi would have cut out her tongue.

"You have no idea. You have no clue what today has been like for me. I got killed today! I killed an arrancar today! I had to go to a freaking school dance today! I got kidnapped today, so don't tell me what my day has been like!" My voice started out calm, steadily rising into a screaming shriek.

Yoruichi's eyes were sympathetic. Too bad I didn't want her sympathy. "I only meant-"

"Just leave" My voice was cold, my eyes were dead, and my body was stiff.

Gotta love those raging teenage hormones.

…olo…

T POV

The only thing worse than trying to speak with someone else's zanpakuto is trying to speak with someone else's zanpakuto who looks like a toddler on fire.

After 20 minutes of prodding, we got Ayame to cooperate with us and tell us what we needed to know. After that she didn't want to turn back into a katana, and ran all over creation while yours truly had to go and retrieve her.

Did I mention she was on fire?

I wanted to see Karin, so I offered to take Ayame to her (still toddler-ized, might I add.) Apparently, she wasn't taking visitors. So now here I sit, on the floor of Kisuke's hallway, with a screaming kid and nothing to do.

Beep Beep Beep

The small phone-like object I had gotten from the Head Captain was beeping. I opened it up, only to find a message that I wasn't thrilled to read.

_Captain Hitsugaya, _

_Return to the Soul Society immediately. This is a matter of upmost urgency. Tell no one that you are leaving; you should be back to the world of the living in a while._

_Head Captain Yamamoto _

"You're lucky kid. I've got to let you go now." I let go of Ayame, wincing, sure that she would go crazy and run for the nearest exit, but to my extreme surprise, she simply sat on the floor looking nothing like she had a few moments ago. She was an adult for one thing, and also, she had purple hair.

I decided that it was not time to dwell on this, and opened the gate to the Soul Society transferring immediately to the Head Captain's office.

The old man looked up from his desk and said, "Oh, you're here. Sit down, this may take a while."

"Yes, sir. May I enquire what this is about, sir?" I queried.

He smiled at me and the words that came out of his mouth made me want to smile and die at the same time.

"Miss Karin Kurosaki."

…olo…

One more chapter left!

Review?


	17. In Conclusion

T POV

Click

Click

Click

Click

That damn clicking was testing my last nerve. Head Captain Yamamoto leaned kept pacing nearly in time with the clock tower.

"Captain Hitsugaya. We have several things to speak about, the first being your failure on this assignment." His eyes narrowed and I felt his disappointment shoot through me. "This was to be a reconnaissance mission, and you were never meant to come in contact with the subject. Care to explain why, not only, did you come in contact with Kurosaki , but you failed to protect her when an enemy infiltrated her world?"

"Yes, sir. I came in contact with Karin because I felt a strong surge of spiritual pressure tinged with violence and the urge to kill, and went to neutralize the threat. When I arrived, Karin had taken the power from the shinigami who had attacked her friend and she saw me before I could get away." Yamamoto raised an eyebrow and gestured for me to continue. " As for the espada attack, there were two of them and I am ashamed to admit that I could not hold both of them off on my own."

Yamamoto gripped the bridge of his nose and the deep lines indented further into his forehead, a physical sign of distress and frustration. "Very well." He let out a breath and pulled out a thick folder, worn around the edges, from his desk. "This is the file on Karin Kurosaki. Based on the information we have gathered from you and Kisuke, it is fair to say she needs trained before her power gets out of her control. In other words, she needs official training. Although Yourichi could do it, she does not officially exist in the Soul Society because of an incident that happened many years ago. We need a replacement."

"Go retrieve Yoruichi and Kurosaki and bring them here to me for further discussion."

"Yes, sir."

Well, that could have gone worse.

…olo…

K POV

After hours of sitting by myself in this dark little dive of a room, with only the one distraction from Daichi, I was pretty much just sitting in the corner of the dank room reassuring myself that everything was going to be ok.

So, when Yoruichi poked her head in and told me to clean up and be ready to leave for the soul society in 10 minutes, I jumped at the opportunity. But as I scrubbed at my face and combed through my hair, doubts began to pass through my mind. What if it was decided that I was better off dead? What if I never could see my family again? My friends?

Exactly nine and a half minutes later I was presentable and sitting in the kitchen with a cup of tea waiting to be whisked away for judgment. I let my eyes follow the wisps of steam coming off of my untouched tea while my worried thoughts glazed over my mind. Just because I appeared dead to the world didn't mean I wasn't aware of my surroundings. I heard a breath and a creak behind me and immediately tensed up, thinking that this was one of Yoruichi's "be prepared for anything at anytime" surprise attacks.

Approximately three seconds later I realized I was wrong as I glared at the head of white hair that belonged to the boy whose arms I had pinned behind his back. Toshiro didn't get angry, didn't fight back. He merely turned his head and asked, "You're ready to go?"

I nodded, and we went.

…olo…

The way he moved was wrecking my nerves. He walked like he was floating, but his footsteps resounded in my ears. Every ghostly step he took towards us rattled my nerves just a little more. Even though there was sunlight in the Head Captain's office in the soul society, I found myself wishing to be back in the dark hole I had been in not even an hour before. The Head Captain was talking, but I can't say I listened all that well. I just sat there trembling in my seat, glancing from Ichigo to Toshiro to Yoruichi. So far, from what I had caught, Captain Yamamoto had described what exactly the purpose of Toshiro's mission was, what went wrong, and why they did it in the first place. Now, it seemed, he was moving on to the arrancar threat and speaking mostly to Ichigo and Toshiro.

"… that Grimmjow had once destroyed over a radius of…" only fragments of his old, weary voice split across my mind. My mind was a haze.

Up until I was directly addressed by the Head Captain.

"Karin Kurosaki. Substitute soul reaper." His eyes were violating on me, seemingly reading into my soul. Which, ironically, he was actually looking at my soul.

"Yes, sir?"

"I believe it is in the best interest of the soul society for you to be trained until we can return your soul to your body. After we return you to your body you will be training here in the summers." He commanded.

I looked at him, not comprehending what the catch could be.

"I'm training here with Yoruichi?" I clarified.

"No, Miss Kurosaki. You are going to be training here with Captain Hitsugaya."

And there is the catch.

…olo…

Four months, 19 days, and 12 hours into training with Toshiro.

So, almost five months of this… torture. No, not the training. The lack of clothing on Toshiro. He walks around half naked most of the time, and always trains shirtless. Do you know how hard it is to focus on containing my spiritual pressure when rivulets of sweat dripping down Toshiro's chest and back shine in the light? Hard.

Also, he bites his lip when he gets nervous.

I make him very nervous.

I honestly thought he was only nervous because he thought I was going to blow everything up with my spiritual pressure, until three weeks ago.

Three weeks ago I was approached by Matsumoto, who with a wink and a nudge, offered to teach me how to read people's spiritual pressure and be able to feel when a shinigami is scared, anxious, nervous, or…. Well, I'm just going to say nervous again. Nervous in a racing pulse, dilated eyes, I want you to remove your clothing kind of way.

Note to self: If Matsumoto ever offers you something, it has an ulterior motive. Also, remember not to walk into the men's bathhouse again. Because Toshiro will be in there. And you will get a flash of nervous spiritual pressure so strong it almost suffocates you.

Ever since the bathhouse incident I have always double checked the signs on the doors and I also have been seeing just how strong Toshiro's nerves can get.

Yes, I know. I'm mean. Blame Ayame.

Today, the game was over. I told myself no distractions until I could beat him, and that is what I did. We had been sparring for the past 85 minutes. I counted every single one. For the first time, ever, I won. Our match ended with Toshiro sprawled out on the ground, katana four feet away, my hands around his neck and my legs straddled over him.

I grinned down at his shocked face and laughed, "I can't believe I finally won!"

He smirked back at me and replied, "I can't believe I have to do this." And before I knew it I was pinned under him with his hands holding mine to the ground.

"I don't think you mind me that much." I smirked back at him.

With that I leaned up into his body and pressed my lips onto his. They were warm and wet. He smelled like outdoors and musk and he tasted like sweets.

He was shocked. So shocked, in fact, that he didn't move or respond for quite some time after I pulled back.

Then I felt his large strong hands roughly scratching down my back landing on my hips to pull me up into his lap, my senses were filled with him as he pressed my lower back into him and held my neck up. I slid my hands up to grasp his jaw as he invaded my mouth and pulled me closer to him. I pulled back, panting and gasping for air with a smirk on my face.

He gave me a small smile and said, "Ready for round two?"

I still don't know if he meant another match or if he just wanted to make out.

…olo…

THE END

I apologize if the ending disappoints – My entire idea for the story was altered over the time it took to write this. Unless you guys really want me to leave this story up, I'm taking it down by the end of the month. If you want to take this story and revise it or use the idea, just send me a PM (first to ask gets it). This was my first story, and it took me three years to complete. I've watched my writing grow and m style change.

Note to anyone who follows me: I now write smut. If you do not wish to have M rated material pop up in your inbox, I suggest you unfollow me. Thank you so much for following me in the first place, I just felt like you deserve a warning.


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